Confirmed cases of the new coronavirus around New York state ticked up slightly Thursday, while total hospitalizations dropped.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Friday said, out of 66,392 tests conducted Thursday, 918 came back positive (1.38 percent of the tests). On Wednesday, 875 tests came back positive out of 69, 945 performed.(1.25 percent).
Confirmed cases in the state are up slightly over the past few days — the total clocked in as low as 391 (on 46,428 tests) on Sunday, but has increased every day since.
In total, 395,872 people in New York state have tested positive for COVID-19 out of about 4.1 million tests.
Nine New Yorkers died of COVID-19 on Thursday, according to Cuomo, down from 10 on Wednesday. 24,885 people in New York state have died from the virus since the pandemic began.
Total hospitalizations Thursday came in at 857, down from 878 on Wednesday.
The positive test rate in the state has been hovering around 1 percent for several weeks.
In a statement, the governor urged New Yorkers to "wear a mask, social distance, and wash your hands" this holiday weekend.
New York City reported 438 new confirmed coronavirus cases Thursday, up from 362 the day before.
New hospitalizations in the city, meanwhile, clocked in at 65 on Thursday, up from 23 the day before.
As of Thursday, according to the city, there have been 213,212 total confirmed cases, 55,110 total hospitalizations, and 23,140 total fatalities (18,535 confirmed and 4,605 probable).
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