The number of New Yorkers hospitalized with COVID ballooned over Christmas, with more than 5,500 people spending their holidays inside one of New York's many hospital facilities - the largest increase since February.

Gov.
Kathy Hochul announced on Monday that statewide hospitalizations stand at 5,526 - the highest total since February 23 and nearly a 190 percent increase since November 1, according to

'You can see the hospitalizations are continuing to spike upward, [but] you can get some comfort in seeing that we're not where we were in April 2020, we're not where we were in January of 2021,' she said.

'But it is going upwards and that is something that we are very cognizant of and were anticipating and preparing for.'Around 17,000 New Yorkers were hospitalized during the peak of the first wave in spring 2020, with 7,000 receiving professional medical care as 2021 began.  

Hospitalizations among children, though, have also skyrocketed, more than doubling statewide since the beginning of the month and has jumping five-fold in New York City.

Across the state, 70 children were hospitalized with COVID during the week of December 5 to 11, but so from December 19 to 23, that number jumped to 184.

And in New York City, there were 22 children in the hospitals for COVID from December 5 to 11, but by December 19 to 23 there were 109 children hospitalized with the virus.

'We are releasing this data because we want pediatricians to be alert to making the diagnosis of COVID in children,' said Dr.

Mary Bassett, the state's acting health commissioner, adding that she wants parents to be aware that their children can catch the virus as well.

'Many people thought - continue to think - that children don't become infected with COVID.
This is not true,' she said. 'Children become infected and some will be hospitalized.'

Bassett urged parents to get their children vaccinated, with CDC data showing that just 27.3 percent of five to 11 year olds in the state have received at least one dose, and only 16.4 percent are fully vaccinated.

COVID is only fatal in extremely rare cases among under 18s, with fewer than 800 children in that age group being killed by the virus in the US since the start of the pandemic. 

Meanwhile, New York State saw 26,737 people test positive for the virus - though Hochul said on Monday she expects the number to rise up to 20,000 or more by the time Tuesday's data comes in, as more people will get tested following the Christmas holiday.

The situation is more grim in New York City, which is seeing a 10.7 percent positivity rate with a 17,334 total cases reported over the past week. 

There were also 208 hospitalizations over the past week, according to New York City health data, and 10 deaths as the Omicron variant continues to spread.

It now accounts for 73 percent of cases in the U.S. according to most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).