March 14, 2022, marks two years since the city’s first COVID-19 death.

On this day in 2020, former Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the city's first coronavirus death in Brooklyn. Two years later, nearly 40,000 New Yorkers have passed away due to COVID.

Once the epicenter of the pandemic, nearly 2.3 million New Yorkers have been infected by COVID over the last two years. Over 161,000 were hospitalized and nearly 40,000 died. New Yorkers experienced numerous waves including multiple variants with hospital capacity maxing out at the height of the pandemic.

Today the outlook is much different. The seven-day positivity rate in the city right now is only 1.34% with 584 total cases, only 14 of which are hospitalized.

Health officials say that's thanks in large part due to the vaccine. Over 86% of eligible New Yorkers are vaccinated-- that's over 7.1 million with at least one dose. Almost all restrictions around the city have now been lifted.

March 15 marks two years since public schools closed because of COVID, and the push to get more kids vaccinated continues, especially those in the 5 to 11 age group.