Gov. Kathy Hochul said today that the statewide daily COVID-19 positivity rate is on its way down.

While not out of the woods yet, the state's positivity rate is 18.6% compared to Jan. 3, which was at 23.17%. She said it looks like we are cresting and called it a "glimmer of hope."

There is still a long way to go, as the rate was 4.28% Dec. 11.

As of Jan. 10, there were 12,540 hospitalized and 160 deaths.

The governor has also said she wanted to see how many people are hospitalized due to COVID-19 or for another reason but happened to test positive while there. She says 42% of COVID-19 hospitalizations were admitted for non-COVID-19 reasons.

Hochul says it is extremely important that kids get vaccinated. "This is our armor we have to wrap our children in," she said.

Hochul says through the month of December, 91% of 5- to 11-year-olds hospitalized with COVID-19 were unvaccinated.

The state has shipped nearly 8 million COVID-19 tests to schools so far, with more to come. "Schools are our top priority for access to these over-the-counter tests," she said.