In the final days of 2021, Governor Hochul is reminding New Yorkers not to let our guard down in our fight against COVID-19.

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On Tuesday December 28th, Gov. Kathy Hochul updated New Yorkers on the state's progress combating COVID-19. 19.33 percent of all tests came back positive in the previous 24 hours. The 7-day positivity rate was cited at 13.16 percent.

Fast forward 24 hours and the 7-day positivity rate is showing 14.61% in the update for Wednesday December 29th.  A total of 67,090 total positive tests results were reported.

Additional statistics from the Wednesday update can be found below:

Twitter: Governor Hochul
Twitter: Governor Hochul
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While the number of vaccine doses, including boosters administered continues to rise, it appears that positive cases are rising just as quickly.

Twitter: Governor Hochul
Twitter: Governor Hochul
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The Mid-Hudson Valley has shown a steady uptick of the 7-day average of cases (per 100K population) over the past few days.

New York State Press Office
New York State Press Office
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Locally, the Dutchess County Department of Behavioral & Community Health shared a Public Health Alert on Wednesday December 29th, alerting residents that COVID transmission rates are on the rise after the holidays, and urges everyone to take the necessary precautions.

In the message, County Executive Marcus J. Molinaro and Commissioner Livia Santiago-Rosado indicated that since Thanksgiving, the 7-day average case rate has almost tripled, and hospitalizations have more than doubled in Dutchess County, and the Mid-Hudson region.

While the percentage of New Yorkers fully vaccinated continues to increase, the uptick is not fast enough to completely curb the spread of this highly transmissible virus, particularly among communities with low vaccination coverage. The above findings demonstrate the necessity for increased adherence to multiple prevention strategies.

Dutchess County is bring all residents, businesses, and visitors to employ 'all available mitigation strategies to reduce community transmission.' This includes masking, social distancing, vaccinations and boosters, testing, contact tracing and general education.  To read the full Public Health Alert from The Dutchess County Department of Behavioral & Community Health, click here.

All-Time COVID Cases Per County in New York

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Vaccinations for COVID-19 began being administered in the U.S. on Dec. 14, 2020. The quick rollout came a little more than a year after the virus was first identified in November 2019. The impressive speed with which vaccines were developed has also left a lot of people with a lot of questions. The questions range from the practical—how will I get vaccinated?—to the scientific—how do these vaccines even work?

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