BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — There are more encouraging signs in the fight against COVID-19 here in New York. The state's single day COVID-19 positivity rate is now below 3% for the first time since late November.
As of Sunday, Western New York’s, and the Finger Lakes region both have a positivity rate of 2.3%.
National numbers are trending down as well, but that does not ease the pain, as the nation is approaching another horrifying milestone. Nearly 500,000 lives have been lost to COVID-19 in the United States.
With positivity numbers down, and more vaccines being distributed, despite the death toll, some are becoming optimistic.
“I think the bottleneck in supply is going to be significantly alleviated over the next month and will increase the amount of doses available significantly over the next few weeks. Hopefully, the Johnson and Johnson vaccine will be approved sometime in the next week or so,” said University at Buffalo's Professor and Chief of Infectious Disease, Dr. Thomas Russo.
While sledding at Chestnut Ridge, several people answered how they feel about positivity numbers declining.
“My dad is getting vaccinated this week,” said Abigail Widger. “Looking forward to the future for sure.”
“Cautiously optimistic,” said Jax Yochim. “Things could get out of control, but you never know.”
“I feel like we turned the corner. I feel like this year is just going to get better as we go along. I think we all have cabin fever for a year, not just the winter,” said Jason Botticelli.
