New York state recorded more than 1,000 new coronavirus cases in a single day, the first time since June that the state had a daily number that high.
The news comes as more than half of all states in the U.S. have shown percentage increases in the number of coronavirus cases over the last two weeks.
Out of nearly 100,000 coronavirus tests in New York, 1,005 came back as positive, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a tweet Saturday. That's 1 percent of the total tests.
The last time the state recorded daily numbers that high was on June 5, according to NBC New York. On that day, New York had 1,108 new cases, the state's health department website shows.
From late July through the start of September the state was seeing an average of around 660 people test positive per day. In the seven-day period that ended Friday, the state had averaged 817 positive tests per day.
Cuomo aide Gareth Rhodes emphasized Saturday that the new positive-case number came out of nearly 100,000 tests, compared to about 60,000 tests daily in June.
“Is there cause for concern? As long as COVID is here, yes,” Rhodes posted on Twitter, noting that certain ZIP codes have seen increases in new cases and hospital admissions. “Key is ensuring these clusters don’t spread into neighboring/other ZIPs.”
Rhodes also noted improving numbers among college-aged people, suggesting better compliance on campuses.
In New York City, health officials have sounded alarms about a rising number of cases in certain neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens where many private religious schools opened for in-person instruction in early September.
Still, New York is in a far better situation than in April, when the number of positive tests per day routinely topped 9,000, even though tests then were hard to get and people were being encouraged not to seek one unless they were gravely ill.
Public school students in New York City’s elementary, middle and high schools are set to resume in-person instruction next week Sept. 29 and Oct. 1.