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WPCNR COVID SITUATION IN REAL TIME. From New York State Covid Tracker. Observations by John F. Bailey. November 27, 2021:

With cases building in the New York Metropolitan Area, New York Governor Kathy Hochul declared a State of Emergency Saturday.

“We’ve taken extraordinary action to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and combat this pandemic. However, we continue to see warning signs of spikes this upcoming winter, and while the new Omicron variant has yet to be detected in New York State, it’s coming,” Hochul said.

“In preparation, I am announcing urgent steps today to expand hospital capacity and help ensure our hospital systems can tackle any challenges posed by the pandemic as we head into the winter months,” the governor said. The order will be reassessed January 15.

In 13 of the last 17 days, the 9 suburban counties of New York City: Westchester County, Dutchess, Orange, Ulster, Putnam, Rockland, and Sullivan Counties, and Nassau and Suffolk counties have generated more new cases of covid than all five boroughs of New York City.

Friday was the first time in 5 days, the 9 counties were under the NYC total, 1,079 new covid positives, compared to 878 for the 9 suburban neighbors but this came from very small testing universe, 21,091 tests, yielding a 4.2% infection rate. .

On Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, Westchester and the 8 other suburban hot spots generated 1,447 new persons testing positive for covid, to New York City’s 1,358. It should be noted that the 9 counties have 5,374,770 people compared to New York City’s 8,804.

On Wednesday, Travel Day before Thanksgiving the 9 counties reported 2,013 new covid positive persons, to New York Cities 1,626. There is no question the suburban counties are putting the whole region at risk. The counties have lead New York City in infections in 13 of the last 17 days. Westchester alone has doubled cases every week for three weeks