While COVID-19 deaths continue throughout the area, new case numbers are falling in the Hudson Valley now as the omicron variant of COVID-19 seems to have peaked. Columbia County, for instance, went from 178 cases on Jan. 18, to 121 on Jan. 20, and 75 on Jan. 21, with one new death this past week. In Greene County new cases fell to 64 on Jan. 20, after many days above 100. Meanwhile, Ulster County reported another death, and Dutchess County reported two more. fatalities. But new case numbers in Dutchess County fell by more than 300. And Ulster County officials reported 7,150 on Jan. 21, down from the 7,465 cases reported on Jan. 20 and down from an all-time high of 7,569 reported for Jan. 15. Dutchess County, meanwhile, reported 2,105 active cases on Jan. 19, down 313 from the 2,418 active cases reported for Jan. 18 and well below the 8,510 all-time high reported on Jan. 8.