Luke Parsnow is reporting for New York State of Politics COVID-19 community levels in New York state continue to decline from a post-omicron springtime spike, leaving only seven of the state's 62 counties designated as having "high" community levels of the virus, according to data released June 10, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Columbia, Dutchess, Greene and Ulster counties have "low" community levels. The current "high" counties are Clinton County in the North Country, Rensselaer and Schenectady counties in the Capital Region, Orange and Sullivan counties in the western Hudson Valley, and Suffolk County on Long Island. The CDC uses a "high," "medium" and "low" classifications based on the number of new cases per 100,000 people in the past seven days; the number of new hospital admissions with COVID-19 in the past seven days per 100,000 people; and the percentage of staffed inpatient beds in use by patients with COVID-19 within a seven-day average. With a "high" level, the CDC recommends wearing masks in indoor public areas and on public transportation. Nationwide, there are 314 counties the CDC said have “high” levels of COVID-19, which is up from the last two weeks. Counties with "high" community levels of the coronavirus are scattered throughout the country, with concentrations in the mid-Atlantic states and Florida, and parts of the upper Midwest, Southwest and West Coast. The Biden administration late last week announced it is lifting its requirement that international air travelers to the U.S. take a COVID-19 test within a day before boarding their flights, Read more at nystateofpolitics [dot] com.