NEW YORK, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) -- Total COVID-19 hospitalizations reached 8,929 on Tuesday in New York State, up from 8,926 on Monday, tweeted Governor Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday.
Of the 196,868 COVID-19 tests reported on Tuesday in the state, 14,577 were positive, or 7.4 percent of the total, down from 7.73 percent one day earlier, said Cuomo, adding that the fatalities went up to 165 on Tuesday, compared with 164 on Monday.
In another tweet, the governor said that "Three state-run mass vaccination sites opened this morning and are running smoothly" respectively at the Javits Center in Manhattan, the State Fairgrounds in Syracuse and the Westchester County Center.
"Appointments are REQUIRED," he stressed.
In an official release issued on Wednesday, the governor said that "we're dealing with high numbers of COVID cases across the state as we move through the dark days of winter, and although I understand COVID fatigue has set in, we need New Yorkers to remember that we aren't out of the woods yet."
"The vaccine is the weapon that ends the war, but we're locked in a footrace between its quick distribution and the spread of new cases. New Yorkers can get through this together, but it will require a willingness to take precautions not just for themselves, but for others," he said.
New York State is working to expand testing capacity and hospital capacity, but "it will take all of us to get to the light at the end of the tunnel," he added.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University reported that the coronavirus deaths in New York State topped 40,000, hitting 40,063, still the worst in the country.
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