ITHACA, N.Y. (WHCU) – Tompkins County Whole Health says the newest Omicron subvariant, XBB.1.5-point is responsible for more than half of the current infections in New York.

Officials say despite a low community spread level in the county, hospitalization rates are increasing. They’re urging residents to get boosted with your primary care provider or local pharmacy, particularly those most vulnerable to severe illness. Additionally, you can use the Vaccine Finder online tool to find locations near you. They say CDC data now indicates that people who receive a booster were more than eighteen times less likely to die from COVID-19 and three times less likely to be infected than unvaccinated people.

Currently only 29% of residents who have received a full series of their primary vaccination have also received a bivalent booster. Tompkins County Whole Health Commissioner Frank Kruppa pushed for the community to protect itself by getting vaccinated, staying home when sick, and wearing high quality masks in public.

“This is our third winter with COVID-19 and we know that following these steps helps to reduce spread of the disease,” said Kruppa. “We also know that with reduced PCR testing and more testing done at home, the status of disease prevalence is likely to be much higher than what is reported. We urge continued caution and recommend you get vaccinated and stay up to date on your vaccination by getting the updated booster as soon as you are eligible.”

COVID-19 test kits and KN95 masks for youth and adults are available free of charge at locations throughout the county.