“We are talking about approximately 32-36 hospitals that have fallen in that category of having 10 percent or less bad capacity,” Hochul said during a virtual press briefing on Monday.
The hospitals will cease non-essential procedures beginning on December 3, Hochul said, adding that the state authorities will reassess the situation on January 15.
“Currently, we have 2,829 people in hospitals right now. We know that the trend is continuing in a bad direction,” Hochul also said.
The governor noted that more than 95 percent of the residents received at least one vaccine shot, but pointed out that the overall immunization rate in upstate New York is worse than in other areas.
Wadsworth Center Laboratory of Viral Diseases head Kirsten St. George reassured residents that the new Omicron variant had not reached the region yet.
“We just checked international databases, and still nothing reported in New York and anywhere in the United States,” she explained during the same press briefing.
On November 27, Hochul issued a state of emergency in the state due to a spike in new coronavirus infections and hospitalizations, according to her executive order.