WNY Officially Has the Highest COVID-19 Positivity Rate in NYS

Some areas of New York are doing badly when it comes to managing the spread of COVID-19, Western New York especially. According to information released by the Governor's office for November 16, 2021, these are the 7-day positivity rates around the state,

Capital Region	5.68%
Central New York	6.01%
Finger Lakes	8.77%
Long Island	3.59%
Mid-Hudson	2.75%
Mohawk Valley	7.21%
New York City	1.44%
North Country	6.92%
Southern Tier	4.72%
Western New York	8.87%
Statewide	3.47%

WNY was second to the Finger Lakes region but surpassed it on November 16. While New York City, the most populated city in the state has a 7-day average positivity rate of 1.44%, ours is more than 6 times that.

Erie County had 554 people test positive for COVID-19 on November 16 and Niagara County had 131. A total of 6,114 New Yorkers tested positive on November 16, bringing the total number of positive cases in the state to 2,618,458.

Three Erie County residents lost their lives due to COVID-19 on November 16. According to the Health Electronic Response Data System, 46,101 people have died in New York from COVID-19.

Governor Hochul said,

"In order to spend the holidays safely with our loved ones, we must stay vigilant in our fight against COVID-19. If you have not done so yet, get vaccinated. If you have a child, protect them by getting them vaccinated. And if you have already been vaccinated but feel at risk, get your booster shot and we can end this pandemic together."

Hopefully, the COVID-19 positivity rate in WNY will go down. It has been steadily increasing over the past few weeks. Another shutdown could be looming, if our numbers don't start to decrease.