Gov. Kathy Hochul says that the best way to end the winter COVID-19 surge impacting New York is for residents to get vaccinated.

This comes as the governor announced a record 90,132 new cases statewide, as well as 154 deaths.

"There is an answer to this winter surge and it's simple: the vaccine and the booster," Hochul said in a statement. "Our vaccination rate among children is still too low. Parents and guardians, don't delay in getting your children vaccinated and boosted, if eligible. It's safe and widely available. This is the one of the best ways to keep our numbers down, as well as wearing a mask and staying home if sick."

The statewide seven-day average positivity rate stands at 22.15%, with the state reporting a 21.17% daily positivity rate.

As of data from Friday, Long Island's seven-day average positivity rate of 26.46% is the highest in the state, followed by the Mid-Hudson region at 23.06% and Central New York at 22.26%. The region of the state with the lowest seven-day average positivity rate is currently the Southern Tier, with a reported 15.64% rate.

This past week, the state for the first time released more specific data on COVID hospitalizations, drawing a distinction between people who entered the hospital because of being ill from the virus and those who later tested positive but are being hospitalized for other reasons. 

Hochul announced on Saturday that of the 11,843 COVID patients hospitalized across New York, 6,847, or 58.0%, were admitted due to COVID or complications of COVID. 

The governor's office also says the omicron variant continues to circulate at extremely high levels and numbers. As of Friday's data, the omicron variant comprised of 94% of uploaded COVID-19 sequences between Dec. 24 and Jan. 6. 

According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, 95.0% of all New Yorkers age 18 and older have received at least one vaccine dose and 83.3% have completed their vaccine series. For New Yorkers of all ages, 85.1% have received at least one dose and 72.3% have completed their vaccine series.