By Mihir Zaveri

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It’s Monday.

Weather: Snow mixed with rain around midday, then just rain. High near 40.

Alternate-side parking: In effect until Friday (Purim).

On Sunday, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced that the statewide daily rate of positive coronavirus test results — a key measure of the severity of the pandemic — was 2.99 percent. It was the first time the rate had dropped below 3 percent since late November.

But Mr. Cuomo’s announcement also included a more troubling update: A person from Nassau County was confirmed to be the first resident of New York to have been infected by a more contagious variant of the coronavirus that emerged in South Africa.

Taken together, the two updates captured the state of the pandemic in New York. Even as hospitalizations and positivity rates drop, officials are struggling to vaccinate people before new variants, which might resist vaccine and spread faster than earlier versions of the virus, take hold.

“We are in a race right now — between our ability to vaccinate and these variants which are actively trying to proliferate — and we will only win that race if we stay smart and disciplined,” Mr. Cuomo said.

[The South Africa variant may be able to overcome the natural immunity of those previously infected.]

The backdrop

Overall, the pandemic appears to be easing in New York. After statewide hospitalizations climbed to more than 9,200 in mid-January, the number dropped to 5,764 on Sunday, Mr. Cuomo said.

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