As New York and some of its neighbors in the Northeast continued to see signs of hope in declining case numbers and positivity rates this week, states on the West Coast were reporting some of their worst known caseloads since the pandemic began. Kathy Hochul emphasized that the state’s positivity rate had fallen below 10 percent for the first time in weeks. Of the 299,580 tests recorded on Friday, 9.23 percent turned out to be positive, Governor Hochul announced on Saturday. That was slightly lower than the 9.75 percent rate recorded on Thursday — the first time the state had reached a single-digit positivity rate since Dec. 20. “This is extraordinary progress,” the governor said in a statement, urging New Yorkers yet again to wear masks and get vaccinated.

Source: New York Times January 24, 2022 02:20 UTC