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Western New York's Covid-19 positivity rate drops below 3%

Buffalo News - 2/21/2021

Feb. 20—Western New York's recent good coronavirus news continued Saturday as its positivity rate dropped below 3% for the first time in more than three months.

The state announced that the region's seven-day average positive Covid-19 test rate through Friday was 2.87%.

It is the first time that the five counties' rate has been under 3% since last Nov. 5, when the combined rate for Erie, Niagara, Chautauqua, Cattaraugus and Allegany counties was 2.9%.

The region's positivity rate, which represents the percentage of tests that are positive, has dropped by nearly 6 percentage points over the last six weeks.

The highest the positive rate reached for the region during the pandemic was 8.8% on Jan. 5. Following the initial months of the outbreak last spring, the rate hovered around 1% for the summer of 2020 before it spiked in the fall and winter.

Public health authorities, including the World Health Organization, recommend maintaining a positive rate under 5%.

The region's positive rate was among other encouraging Covid-19 metrics for Western New York and the state that showed the reduced spread of the coronavirus.

"Our ability to beat back Covid is entirely dependent on our actions," Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said in a statement, "and the post-holiday reduction in positivity and hospitalizations demonstrates that New Yorkers are continuing to do the right things to stay safe."

The statewide seven-day average positivity rate is now 3.53%. The statewide rate has declined for 43 straight days.

Among the state's 10 regions, New York City has the highest rate at 4.4%; Western New York is fifth.

The state reported that Western New York had 258 patients hospitalized with Covid-19 as of Friday, which is also a dramatic reduction from the region's all-time high of 548 on Dec. 10. The regional total, which dropped by three from the previous day, continued to hover near the high from the springtime (257).

The statewide hospitalization total is 5,977, marking the first time that number has been below 6,000 since Dec. 14. The hospitalization total dropped by 178 from the previous day and is down 911 from the previous week.

The state announced 97 coronavirus deaths Friday, including three in Erie County, two in Chautauqua County and one each in Niagara and Cattaraugus counties.

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