NEW YORK — As of Friday, it has been 29 days since New York State saw a daily COVID-19 percent positive rate over one percent statewide.
Additionally, Western New York's daily percent positive number is decreasing. A spike in late August led the state to send a COVID-19 testing team to the region to help identify cases.
On Friday, the statewide percent positive number was .8 percent. Meaning that out of the 99,761 tests done on Friday, 801 came back positive, according to the state.
In Western New York, the percent positive rate is trending downwards, from 1.8 percent on Wednesday, to 1.6 percent on Thursday and 1.2 percent on Friday.
Erie County's percent positive rate for Friday was 1.4 percent, according to Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz.
"New York went from one of the worst situations in the country to one of the best: Our state has gone 29 straight days with an infection rate remaining below one percent," Governor Andrew Cuomo said.
There are currently 425 people hospitalized in New York for the virus. Of those individuals, 115 are in the ICU, and of those in the ICU, 61 are intubated.
Statewide, 67 people have been newly admitted to the hospital with the virus. Two people died on Friday from COVID-19 in New York State. The two people who died were from Kings and Suffolk counties.
"Overall, our numbers continue to be good news - our progress proves that this virus responds to science, not politics," Cuomo added. "But we cannot go backwards. As we celebrate this Labor Day Weekend, we must all continue to wear our masks, socially distance, wash our hands and stay New York Tough."
The total number of New Yorkers to test positive for the virus since the start of the pandemic is now 438,772. At this time, 25,350 people have died in the state due to the virus.