Half of all adult New Yorkers are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s office announced Saturday, slightly higher than the national average as tracked by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
New York’s rate is 51.5% for those age 18 and older, and 61.4% with at least one dose; Cuomo’s office said; the comparable national rate is 46.4% for full vaccination, and 59.4% with at least one dose, the CDC said.
There are 14 other states whose adult population passed the 50% benchmark: Connecticut, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont and Wisconsin.
Meanwhile, coronavirus infections continue to decline in New York, according to Cuomo’s office, and the state’s case rate is about average for the United States, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Excluding New York City, the average case rate over seven days per 100,000 is 83.4, and 68 in New York City, the CDC reported Saturday. The United States’ average is 72.5 cases.
Cuomo’s office said the statewide positivity rate is 1.18%, the state’s lowest since Oct. 19. Patient hospitalizations were at 1,688, the lowest since Nov. 11, with 407 people in intensive care. And 23 people died Friday from the virus.
Long Island’s infection rate averaged over seven days as of Friday was 1.02%, and New York City’s was 0.98%; the highest rate was in the Finger Lakes region (2.77%) and the lowest is the Southern Tier (0.62%).
The CDC reported that New York City has the nation’s second-highest seven-day death rate per 100,000, 2.4, with only Michigan reporting more deaths. Excluding New York City, New York State was roughly in the bottom quarter, with 0.8 per 100,000.
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