Just when you thought you could put your masks away:

New York and other states in the Northeast had the highest rates of COVID-19 test positivity in the week in the week through January 6, according to the latest data.

Some 15.8 percent of COVID-19 tests in the U.S. were positive that week, up slightly from the week before, according to the data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The CDC's map shows New Jersey, along with Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, also had higher test positivity than anywhere else in the country, with 15.8 percent of tests coming back positive in the first week of 2024.

They were followed by Vermont, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine and Connecticut, with test positivity rates of15.5 percent.

The CDC on Friday said that new hospital admissions for COVID-19 were up by more than 50 percent in December, while new hospital admissions for flu more than doubled from the end of November to the end of December. "These increases are typical for this time of year, and short-term forecasts suggest elevated numbers of hospital admissions will continue," the agency said.

More hospitals in the U.S. are requiring people to wear masks as heath officials face a second winter season where COVID-19, flu and other respiratory syncytial viruses (RSV) have been circulating simultaneously.

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