The number of New York counties at the highest level of COVID-19 community spread has hit its highest level yet since the federal government started a transmission tracking system last month.
Forty counties late Monday had reached the "high" level of community spread, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, up 18 a week ago.
Another 19 counties are listed has having "substantial" spread. The CDC recommends people should wear masks indoors, even those who are vaccinated, if a county has a high or substantial rate of COVID spread.
"We continue to fight COVID-19 across the state each and every day, but vaccinations are the key to our success and more New Yorkers need to get their shots," outgoing Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a statement Monday.
Only three counties remained under the threshold where masks indoors were recommended: Clinton, Schuyler and Wyoming.
The CDC recommends indoor mask-wearing in public in places with at least 50 new cases per 100,000 population over the past seven days or a COVID test positivity rate of 8% and above.
COVID cases continued their rise in New York and across the nation.
In New York, cases rose 23% through Sunday compared to the week before, with 29,211 new cases overall, up from 23,694 new cases the week prior.
Still, New York was better than a majority of states: It ranked 35th among the states where coronavirus was spreading the fastest on a per-person basis, a USA TODAY Network analysis of Johns Hopkins University data showed.
New York's seven day average of positive COVID tests was 3.1%. Last year on the same day, it was 0.8%, according to state data.
https://www.stargazette.com/story/news/politics/2021/08/17/new-york-covid-counties-masks/8154409002/
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