New York City’s COVID-19 positivity rate has dropped below 5 percent for first time in nearly five months.
The latest city data shows that the Big Apple had a 4.91 percent infection rate on a seven-day rolling average as of Friday, Mayor Bill de Blasio said during a City Hall press briefing Monday.
“This is the number we’ve watched the most,” de Blasio said. “On a seven-day rolling average – this number now coming down again.”
That figure takes Gotham below the 5 percent threshold that the city previously set as a coronavirus warning sign “for the first time in a long time and that is a profoundly good sign,” said de Blasio.
The last time the city’s coronavirus infection rate hit below 5 percent on a seven-day rolling average was on Nov. 29.
“I know everyone has been working really hard,” de Blasio said. “Let’s keep working and let’s just run COVID out of this town once and for all.”
The mayor noted that the city COVID-19 data released Monday was only as current as Friday of last week due to a technical issue with the state sending testing data.
The number of coronavirus-related hospitalizations and new reported cases in the city are also heading in the right direction.
According to the data, 163 people were admitted to city hospitals with suspected COVID-19 and 57 percent percent of them tested positive for the bug.
“Again, well below the threshold [of 200],” Hizzoner said of that figure, adding, “We have been below the threshold numerous times.”
The city’s seven-day rolling average of new virus cases was at 2,384, according to the data.
“Long way to go – not out of the woods yet,” the mayor said. “We’ve got to keep being smart and we’ve got to get everyone vaccinated.”
Meanwhile, de Blasio announced that the city hit an “all-time record” for COVID-19 vaccinations in a single day on Friday when 106,528 doses were administered.
To date, the city has administered more than 5.7 million coronavirus vaccine shots.