eizzo@adirondackdailyenterprise.com
The North Country is seeing more confirmed COVID-19 cases than ever before, and the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 across the seven-county region rose to 102 on Thursday, with 17 new hospitalizations overnight.
Just one month ago on Dec. 7, 2020, the number of people hospitalized in this region was 38.
Of the people currently hospitalized, 45 are in intensive care units, with approximately 18 ICU beds left available region-wide, according to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office. With the capacity of all of the hospitals in the North Country combined, about 33% of hospital beds were available as of Thursday.
The number of hospitalizations region-wide doesn’t yet appear to meet the threshold outlined by Cuomo last month that would trigger a partial economic shutdown, though according to the Associated Press, places such as Albany and Oneida counties haven’t yet seen more restrictions imposed despite having some of the highest hospitalization rates in the state.