Of the 197,406 COVID-19 tests reported on Wednesday in New York State, 10,178 were positive, or 5.15 percent of the total, down from 5.44 percent one day earlier, tweeted Governor Andrew Cuomo on Thursday.
The total hospitalizations were 5,164 on Wednesday, up from 4,993 on Tuesday, added Cuomo, who once warned that the state's COVID-19 hospitalizations could reach 6,000 in weeks based on the current trends.
"Wear a mask. Avoid gatherings. Get tested. Help slow the spread and protect our hospital system," the governor said in another tweet.
"The federal government's vaccine distribution plan must be equitable. The communities hit hardest by the pandemic can't be the last to receive the vaccine," he said in a third tweet.
On Wednesday, Cuomo said that "Pfizer's vaccine is expected to be approved tomorrow by the FDA. NY's panel will then convene to immediately review & approve. We expect delivery of 170K doses as soon as THIS weekend. First priority will be for nursing home residents & staff and high-risk hospital workers."
Of the 170,000 doses for New York, 72,000 doses will go to New York City, 26,500 to Long Island, and 19,200 to the Mid-Hudson region. The rest are spread out among the other regions in the state.
As of Thursday evening, the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University reported 35,193 coronavirus deaths in New York State, the worst in the country.
