COVID hospitalizations in New York jump 40 percent since Thanksgiving to 4,222 but Gov Cuomo says people are spending HALF as long in hospital and the death rate of inpatients has dropped from 23% in March to 8%

COVID hospitalizations in New York have jumped more than 40 percent since Thanksgiving.

Statewide statistics on Friday showed the total number of hospitalizations on December 3 at 4,222. On November 24 - the day before the Thankgiving holidays - hospitalizations were at 2,982. Sixty people died yesterday.

Currently the statewide positivity rate is 4.79% and in the state's micro-clusters it's now 7.35%. Again this is a jump from last week when 3.62% positivity was reported statewide with 5.28% in the micro-clusters. 

Governor Cuomo revealed on Friday that the death rate among hospitalized COVID patients in the state of New York has dropped from 23 percent in March and April to just eight percent and people are spending half as long in the hospital.   

EMTs arrive at Elmhurst Medical Center on April 10, 2020 in New York City. Since then, the rate of death among hospitalized patients has dropped from 23 percent to just 8 percent

The rate of hospitalization is increasing but it's going up slowly enough for the hospitals to control

Speaking on a call with reporters, Cuomo reiterated that while COVID deaths and hospitalizations are rising in New York, just as they are everywhere else in the country, he claims they're going up at a much slower rate than they were in the peak of the crisis which means the same level of drastic action is not needed to contain it.

In the worst of the crisis, 23 percent of people who were hospitalized with COVID died. Now, that number is just eight percent. 

Currently, there are 4,222 people in the hospital across the state which means 337 of those patients could die, according to that percentage rate.

Not only is the death rate lowering, people are spending five or six days in the hospital on average now, whereas they were spending 11 days in the hospital in the spring. 

In March and April, 85 percent of the patients in the ICU had to intubated. That rate has now almost halved to 45 percent. 

Last week's hospitalization chart on the day before Thanksgiving showed 2,982 COVID patients taking up hospital beds in the state

Two nurses assess the breathing ability of a COVID-19 patient using oxygen on the Intensive Care Unit floor at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Brooklyn on April 21

'They're not using as many ventilators anymore.

'God bless the hospital workers. 

'I've inquired if the viral strain has weakened- no one will say if it has. But the death rate going from 23 percent to 8 percent is truly significant. 

'Relevant to the nation, we are doing very, very, very well,' Cuomo said on the call. 

He also said that 70 percent of the new cases were coming from small household gatherings.  

NYC COVID TEST POSITIVITY RATES 

MANHATTAN 2.3%

BROOKLYN 3.8%

STATEN ISLAND 4.5%

QUEENS 4.4%

BRONX 5% 

The worst infection rate is in Western New York, where the test positivity rate is 7.4 percent. In New York City, the infection rate is  3.2 percent. 

A statewide shutdown is not going to happen again, nor will a city-wide shut down, unless every single zip code surpasses a test positivity threshold. 

It varies- in New York City, it has to be more than 3 percent on a 7 day rolling average for 10 days straight but will be done by neighborhood. 

Manhattan has a lower infection rate than every other borough.

The infection rate there is 2.3 percent. It is between 3 and 5 percent everywhere else.

If hospitalizations keep rising, hospitals will be told to increase their capacity by 50 percent. 

They have already been told to start looking for more doctors and nurses to hire now.

There are 53,000 hospital beds across the state. Currently, 4,222 are occupied. At the worst of the crisis, 18,000 were taken up.