Hochul Extends Coronavirus Pandemic Emergency Powers

HUDSON VALLEY, NY — She may be happy with the coronavirus pandemic trends, but Gov. Kathy Hochul extended the state's public-health emergency powers through March 16 while reiterating that officials would consider lifting the school mask mandate on March 4.

"We now have the lowest case rate of any major state, any large state in America," she said at a news conference Tuesday. "That's something that didn't happen because we wanted it to, that was as a direct result of strategic policies."

Average coronavirus case indicators are lowest since before Halloween, when they began to spike, followed by jumps in hospitalizations and deaths. COVID-related hospitalizations have declined to about 3,500, down from about 12,700 last month.

Cases have dropped 97 percent since Jan. 7. "This is only February. I mean, that is an amazing drop," she said, thanking "everybody who followed our guidelines, the businesses who complied with what we asked them to do, the people who got vaccinated and got boosted and people wore their mask when the numbers were that dangerously high.

In the Hudson Valley, coronavirus cases hit a low they haven't seen since Nov. 14.

In the Mid-Hudson, most of the positive results from 6,839 tests reported on Valentines Day were in Westchester County:

In the Hudson Valley, though COVID-19 hospitalization rates have still not returned to levels seen before the surge started after Halloween, they have dropped since the Jan. 10 peak.

The region's data mirrors the state as a whole.

"That is such a relief for all the healthcare workers who've just been working so hard, showing up day after day, absolutely exhausted, I could see it in their eyes and they still showed up," Hochul said. "And so we're still so proud of everything they've done for nearly two years now, but this is also good news for all of them and for the people."

Hochul reiterated that on March 4, state officials would consider lifting the school mask mandate, saying she was "real excited about that."

First, state officials are going to look at pediatric coronavirus case numbers following the upcoming mid-winter break for public schools. State officials are urging parents to test their kids twice, before they head back to school and then again two to three days later.

"We've already sent out over 5 million test kits for the students," she said.

COVID-19 vaccination rates among 5- to 11-year-olds have gone up to 31.2 percent, Hochul said, and New York leads large states with fully vaccinated people age 12 and up.

In the Hudson Valley, the average rate mirror's the state, at 31.4 percent. Here are the latest pediatric vaccination rates per county as reported by the state health department:

source: New York State Health Department