Nine Covid-19 deaths in Onondaga County; hospitalizations steady

2020 Central NY photos

A nurse checks a patient's IV bag in the Upstate University Hospital's Covid-19 ICU Wednesday, December 16, 2020.N. Scott Trimble | strimble@syracuse.com

Syracuse, N.Y. -- Nine Onondaga County residents died of Covid-19 over the past three days, while hospitalizations remained relatively stable and well below last year’s numbers.

“We had a very hard weekend losing 9 residents,” County Executive Ryan McMahon tweeted today. He said the deaths were four men, in their 50s and 60s; and five women, in their 60s and 70s.

The newly reported deaths from Covid-19 brings this month’s total to 53. That’s less than half of the 113 people who had died through the first 20 days of last December.

The number of Covid-19 patients in the hospital stayed relatively constant over the weekend, with 133 people in the hospital today compared to 134 on Friday. Today’s number is nearly 60% lower than a year ago, when 315 county residents were in the hospital with the respiratory disease.

Today, there are 28 Covid-19 patients in the intensive care unit, below the month’s daily average of 34. Of the 28 in the ICU today, McMahon said, 25 had not been vaccinated.

READ MORE: NY’s health commissioner tests positive for Covid-19

The county confirmed were 929 new cases of Covid-19 on Saturday, Sunday and today combined, McMahon said. That marks 2,093 cases over the past seven days, just slightly above the 2,003 of the previous seven days.

McMahon urged residents who have been fully vaccinated to get their booster shots.

“Please schedule your booster shot as data has proved them to be effective against omicron,” he said.

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.