New York tops 10,000 COVID hospitalizations

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — Hospitalizations across New York state have surpassed the 10,000 mark, which is the first time that’s happened in the pandemic since May of 2020.

The increase in hospitalizations over the past two days alone is just under 250 admissions shy of the total amount of people in New York state hospitalized with COVID in October of 2021.

Right now, more than 20% of COVID tests taken in New York state are coming back positive and experts believe that number is expected to grow. The CDC estimates the Omicron variant’s prevalence in the Rochester area is as high as 99% right now.

On Tues., Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that she wanted hospitals to make sure they’re only counting COVID hospitalizations based on people enterring because of initial problems with the virus. Previously, if someone enterred the hospital for a different reason and tested positive for COVID, they would still be marked down as a COVID hospitalization.