NYC’s hospitalization rate keeps climbing as COVID cases surge

New York City’s hospitalization rate spiked again Tuesday by nearly 30 percent — with more than 60 percent of new patients testing positive for COVID-19, according to official figures.

Charts displayed by Mayor Bill de Blasio during a remote briefing from City Hall showed the seven-day average for hospital admissions rose to 4.76 per 100,000 residents on Sunday, up from 3.7 on Christmas Day.

The 28.6 percent increase was accompanied by 332 new patients admitted on Sunday, with 61 percent of them coronavirus cases.

De Blasio called the new hospitalization rate — announced a day after it more than doubled in two weeks amid the spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant — “very high.”

A medic wheels a patient, both wearing masks, into a hospital.
De Blasio called the new hospitalization rate — the seven-day average of which is 4.76 per 100,000 residents— “very high.”
Paul Martinka

“And yet, thank God, because of all the actions that have been taken — all the vaccinations — our hospitals are handling the situation well,” he added.

The city also reported 20,200 new COVID-19 cases, which de Blasio called “just a staggering number but one that hopefully will be very very brief.”

Data released Tuesday by Gov. Kathy Hochul showed there were 6,173 patients hospitalized statewide for COVID-19 on Monday, up 647 — or 11.7 percent — from Sunday.

A media takes a phone call outside a hospital.
De Blasio revealed the new hospitalization rate just one day after it more than doubled within two weeks amid the spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant.
Paul Martinka

Monday also saw 1,148 new coronavirus patients admitted to hospitals across the state, an increase of more than 80 percent over the 632 admitted a week earlier, according to the figures.

Meanwhile, the statewide positivity rate hit 19.3 percent, with worrisome results for 40,780 of 210,996 people tested.

Kathy Hochul at a press briefing.
Hochul said New Yorkers should make it a New Year’s resolution to beat the COVID pandemic.
Hans Pennink
De Blasio speaks at a press briefing.
Despite the rapidly rising COVID case numbers, de Blasio said “hospitals are handling the situation well.”
Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office

The new positivity rate also helped push the state’s seven-day average to 13.4 percent, up from 10.39 percent a week earlier.

In a statement, Hochul urged New Yorkers to “make a New Year’s resolution to beat this pandemic in 2022.”

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