NYC COVID hospitalizations stabilizing, NY 'turning the corner'

NEW YORK (WABC) -- New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New York Governor Kathy Hochul both offered some good news Friday in the battle against COVID-19.

Adams said that hospitalizations from COVID-19 are stabilizing and could soon start to decline, while Hochul said she believes the state is "turning a corner."

Hochul said there is a clear decline on the state's positivity over a seven day average, with 49,027 new cases reported, down from more than 90,000 one week ago.

Additionally, the 16.30% positivity rate is down from 23.17% on January 3.

"That is a very positive trend, and I believe we will be able to keep that going," she said. "We know what to do. Cases are trending down, turning the corner, we have to continue being vigilant. We are not going to spike the football. Understand that. No spiking the football. It's all about continuing to be vigilant, be smart about it, vaccinations, boosting, wear the mask. There will come a time when it is all over. We are not there yet. But boy, it is on the horizon, and we've waited a long time for that."

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Statewide hospitalizations are 12,207, which are "still too high," Hochul said, noting it is a lagging indicator and is expected to drop. Another 177 deaths were reported.

In New York City, Adams stressed the hospital data was cause for hope, but that we're not out of the woods yet.

"It's stabilizing, and based on our optimistic views, we appear to be moving in the right direction," he said. "It really appears the numbers in our hospitals are stabilizing. We are looking forward just continuing to stabilize and hopefully see a decline. The goal is to continue to do the great things that New Yorkers are doing. I cannot overemphasize...it's about vaccinations and booster shots."

The mayor also reiterated that schools are not closing, despite his being open to considering a remote option.

"Let's be very clear on that, we are not closing our schools," he said. "This is not Chicago. We are working with the UFT on different methods on how we can make sure our children are educated in a very safe environment."

He said that while children at home had a 15% possibility of being exposed, that number is just 1% in schools.

In emphasizing his push to get workers physically back to work, Adams thanked workers at the Steinway Piano Factory in Astoria, Queens, where each piano takes at least nine months to build by hand.

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Roughly 75% of workers there are immigrants, and building pianos by hand cannot be done remotely.

"It is time to get back to our workplaces, it is time to open our city," Adams said. "We cannot run a city as complex as New York City remotely. I will say this over and over again, we want to encourage our businesses in a safe way."

Hochul also announced nine more testing sites opening at SUNY community colleges across the state, in addition to the 20 already open.

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