Nine New Yorkers died from coronavirus on Thursday, less than 900 were hospitalized and the infection rate remained low, signaling that the Empire State continues to move in the right direction while most other parts of the country are seeing resurgences of the pandemic.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo credited New York's continued progress to widespread compliance with social distancing restrictions and face mask usage.
"Yesterday, hospitalizations continued to decline and we saw a low rate of positive tests, which show the state continues on the right track," the governor said in a statement Friday. "I cannot repeat enough that our actions today _ those of individuals being smart and following all precautions, and local governments enforcing the state's guidelines _ will determine which direction these numbers go."
Out of 66,392 tests performed across the state on Thursday, 918, or about 1.4%, came back positive, Cuomo said.
Accounting for new patients and discharges, 857 New Yorkers remained hospitalized with COVID-19 on Thursday.
The numbers mark a major improvement from the peak of the state's coronavirus outbreak in April, when as many as 800 New Yorkers died from the respiratory contagion every day.
