HV COVID-19 Hospitalizations Plummet Since Peak

HUDSON VALLEY, NY —"Winter Surge Plan 2.0" started Jan. 1, as New York state's daily coronavirus death toll topped 100 for the first time in months. It never dropped below 100 in January, a month in which 5,261 New Yorkers died of COVID-19.

On Jan. 31, the daily death toll was 122. Of those deaths, 5 were in Dutchess County, 2 were in Orange, 2 in Rockland and 6 in Westchester.

The Hudson Valley was at the beginning of January one of the hardest-hit regions in New York.

Case levels, which had been rising since Thanksgiving, hit 295.1 per 100,000 residents on Jan. 1. The state reported just 30.5 cases per 100,000 residents in the Hudson Valley as of Jan. 31.

Hospitalizations for COVID-19 shot up after Christmas. Since they peaked Jan. 10, hospitalizations have been declining, though more gradually. There were 838 people hospitalized with COVID-19 on Jan. 1 in the Hudson Valley; there were 726 hospitalizations reported Jan. 31.

State officials said at the beginning of January that they particularly wanted more kids to get the coronavirus vaccine.

A month later, the Hudson Valley is just about at the state average for pediatric vaccination — 28 percent compared to 27.7 percent — but only two counties are above the state average, while Orange and Rockland counties lag far behind, according to the latest state data.

• Dutchess County: 25 percent
• Orange: 13.7
• Putnam: 25.3
• Rockland: 14.7
• Ulster: 30.2
• Westchester: 42.1