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.

Cuomo has said that if the seven-day average hospitalization rates indicate a region’s hospitals could hit “critical” capacity within three weeks, under the state’s guidelines, that region may return to an economic shutdown similar to what was seen last spring before Phase 1 reopening, with only businesses deemed essential authorized to operate. The state has defined “critical capacity” as 90% of beds occupied.

Statewide, 8,548 people were hospitalized as of Thursday, 1,424 of them in intensive care, according to the governor’s office.

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Local cases spike

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Essex County has seen a rapid uptick in cases in the past two weeks. On Thursday, the Essex County Health Department reported 140 active cases countywide, 110 of them new since Tuesday. Of those, 79 were inmates at the Federal Correctional Institute at Ray Brook.

Essex County’s total case count since March rose 59% between Dec. 23, the health department’s final report before the Christmas holiday, and Thursday. That’s 321 new cases in just over two weeks, from 541 total cases to 862.

Franklin County Public Health reported 20 new positive cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, bringing the total number of active cases countywide to 109. Twelve residents were recently deemed recovered.

Franklin County’s total case count, since March, has risen by more than 28% in the last two weeks, from 766 to 981. That’s 215 new cases discovered in the two weeks since Christmas Eve.

Statewide on Wednesday, 7.39% of the 238,550 COVID-19 tests processed were positive, and 197 COVID-positive New Yorkers died, according to Cuomo’s office. Of the approximately 900,000 coronavirus vaccine doses delivered to New York state so far, as of Thursday about 430,000 New Yorkers have been vaccinated.

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Post-holiday rise

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This uptick in cases comes nearly two weeks after Christmas, a holiday that health officials — including this country’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci — feared would cause the number of COVID-19 cases to spike again as a result of people traveling and gathering together.

During a press briefing with Cuomo last month, Fauci warned New Yorkers about a “surge upon a surge” — a new wave of infections that could happen after the post-Thanksgiving wave.

The incubation period for the coronavirus — the amount of time it takes after an exposure before a person starts experiencing symptoms — ranges anywhere from two to 14 days. People generally begin to experience symptoms five to six days after exposure. COVID-19 is often transmitted before people experience symptoms — and not everyone who contracts COVID-19 will experience symptoms.

The impact of the New Year’s Eve holiday on the number of COVID-19 cases here is still unknown.