As New York and some of its neighbors in the Northeast continued to see signs of hope in declining case numbers and positivity rates this week, states on the West Coast were reporting some of their worst known caseloads since the pandemic began.
In New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul emphasized that the state’s positivity rate had fallen below 10 percent for the first time in weeks. Of the 299,580 tests recorded on Friday, 9.23 percent turned out to be positive, Governor Hochul announced on Saturday. That was slightly lower than the 9.75 percent rate recorded on Thursday — the first time the state had reached a single-digit positivity rate since Dec. 20.
“This is extraordinary progress,” the governor said in a statement, urging New Yorkers yet again to wear masks and get vaccinated.
Meanwhile, Western states are feeling the brunt of the fast-spreading Omicron variant, with places like Utah reporting the highest levels of cases and hospitalizations it has seen in the pandemic.
Oregon, as of Friday, reported a 71 percent increase in daily average cases over a two-week period and a 65 percent increase in hospitalizations, according to The Times’s database. Earlier this month, Gov. Kate Brown of Oregon said she would be deploying up to 500 National Guard members to help strained hospitals with the soaring caseload.
California reported a 72 percent increase in daily average cases over the past two weeks, and a 70 percent increase in hospitalizations. Masks continue to be mandated indoors by state officials, and Gov. Gavin Newsom has also called on the National Guard in his state. Earlier this month, he said that more than 200 National Guard members would be deployed across 50 sites to help meet demand for testing. He said they would assist with crowd control and provide clinical care in places with staffing shortages.
