NEW YORK _ New York's coronavirus curve keeps bending.
The state notched the lowest number of COVID-19 hospitalizations and intensive care unit patients since the pandemic began _ and hit a record-low 0.69% coronavirus positivity rate, the 15th straight day below 1%, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Saturday.
Of the 94,849 test results reported on Friday, 653 were positive. The statewide number now totals 429,165. Four people died from the virus on Friday.
The new state data showed coronavirus hospitalizations dropped to 483 _ a new low since March 16 _ and there were 116 coronavirus patients in ICU care, the lowest since March 15.
Among those sickest patients, 56 intubations matched a previous low, the numbers showed.
"In New York we didn't just flatten the curve, we bent it," Cuomo said, crediting "our data-driven phased reopening" that "continues to work."
"This shows that protecting public health and reopening our economy aren't mutually exclusive if done the right way, and record-high testing doesn't equal more positive tests," he said.
But he also warned: "This thing isn't over yet."
The death toll in the United States is a staggering 175,467, the highest in the world, according to Johns Hopkins University resource center data.
