Five counties in New York have had a combined total of fewer than 10,000 cases of COVID-19, during the entire pandemic. That's actually pretty amazing, considering the state has had 2,524,516 cases total. However, keep in mind that these counties are less populated than other counties in the state. They are rural areas; one is even completely located in Adirondack Park.

5. Essex County - 2,406 Positive Cases Total
Essex County has a population of 37,300, as of 2018. It's the home of Lake Placid in the Adirondacks.

4. Schoharie County - 2,360 Positive Cases Total
As of 2018, 31,097 New Yorkers live in the county. The Village of Schoharie is the county seat and the biggest town in the county is Cobleskill.

3. Yates County - 1,695 Positive Cases Total
Three of New York's biggest Finger Lakes are located in Yates County - Seneca Lake, Canandaigua Lake, and Keuka Lake, which has a population of 24,841, as of 2018.

2. Schuyler County - 1,578 Positive Cases Total
The population of Schuyler County is 17,912, as of 2018. Watkins Glen is the county seat.

1. Hamilton County - 442 Positive Cases Total
Even though Hamilton County has had the least cases of COVID-19, that number is about 10 percent of its 4,434 population (as of 2018). The parsley populated county is located entirely within Adirondack Park.

The total reported positive cases these 5 counties have had from the beginning of the pandemic until October 27 was 8,481 or .33% of the total cases in the state.

Data provided by the Governor's daily COVID-19 report released October 28, 2021, with numbers as of October 27.

By comparison, the 7 New York Counties with the most positive COVID-19 cases are highly populated (see below). For clarification, the numbers below are from the day prior to the numbers above. The populations of all of the counties are listed as of 2018, as these are the most up-to-date official numbers provided by the state.

These 7 New York Counties Have Had the Most Positive Cases of COVID-19

The 7 counties listed below, have had the most positive cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, according to data released by Governor Kathy Hochul's Office on October 27, 2021 (with statistics reported up through the previous day). Most of these counties are the most populated in the state.

County / Total Positive Cases

7. Orange County - 57,971 Positive Cases
Orange County's population as of 2018 is 372,829. It is located in the southeastern part of New York and home to United States Military Academy at West Point.

6. Monroe County - 85,441 Positive Cases
Monroe County is home to 19 towns, 10 villages, and the third-largest city in the state, Rochester. New York listed its population as 742,474 as of 2018.

5. Erie County - 107,938 Positive Cases
Home to Buffalo, New York's second-largest city, Erie County has a population of 919,719, as of 2018.

4. Westchester County - 144,050 Positive Cases
The population of Westchester County, as of 2018, is 967,612. It is a "suburb" of the New York City area and White Plains is the county seat.

3. Nassau County - 215,425 Positive Cases
The county's population, as of 2018, is 1.358 million. It is widely known as Long Island.

2. Suffolk County - 241,171 Positive Cases
Suffolk County is home to 10 towns - Babylon, Brookhaven, East Hampton, Huntington, Islip, Riverhead, Shelter Island, Smithtown, Southampton and Southold. It has a population of 1,481,093, as of 2018.

1. NYC - 1,095,102 Positive Cases
NYC includes a total of 5 counties - New York (1,628,701), Bronx (1,432,132), Kings (2,582,830), Queens (2,278,906), and Richmond (476,179). The combined population of the 5 counties is 8,398,748 as of 2018, making it the most populated city in the state, and country.

As of October 26, there has been a total of 2,520,231 positive cases of COVID-19 reported in New York.  The 7 counties listed above account for 1,947,098 positive cases or 77.25% of all of the reported positive cases of COVID-19 in the state.

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