Lauren Stanforth reports in the Times Union that three New York counties now have some of the highest COVID-19 rates in U.S. and New York officials are urging indoor mask wearing in Cayuga, Cortland, Madison, Onondaga, and Oswego counties. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention only lists 16 counties in the country right now with a "high" COVID-19 transmission risk, and two of them are Oswego and Cayuga counties in central New York. A new omicron strain, BA.2, has taken over at the same time mask mandates have ceased across the country. Locally, the Capital Region COVID-19 positivity rate is slightly higher than the state average, with 3.7 percent of tests reporting coronavirus. Central New York, though, is at 9.6 percent as of April 2. "The high number of COVID-19 cases in Central New York suggests that transmission of the virus is widespread throughout the region, and levels remain above the state average,” State Health Commissioner Dr. Mary T. Bassett said April 1. The Columbia County Department of Health has not reported new statistics since March 31, when they said there were 15 new cases and 38 in total. On April 1, Greene County reported 10 more cases, for 48 current coronavirus cases. Read more about this story in the Times Union.