The state's death toll from the virus, as tracked by the Department of Health, rose by 20, to 8,687.
While short of the 1,044 cases that were added on Tuesday, the rise in cases on Wednesday was larger by 236 than the one the previous Wednesday, just before Thanksgiving.
Except for Tuesday's spike, it was the largest one-day increase since Sept. 30.
The increase in the number of hospitalized covid-19 patients was the sixth daily rise in a row, bringing the number to its highest level since Oct. 21.
After growing by eight on Tuesday, the number of the state's virus patients who were on ventilators rose Wednesday by one, to 74, its highest level since Nov. 6.
The number who were in intensive care, however, fell by two, to 171, after rising the previous four days.
The number of intensive care beds in the state's hospitals that were unoccupied rose by 33, to 92.
People with covid-19 made up almost 17% of the state's intensive care patients on Wednesday, up slightly from about 16% a day earlier.
The average daily increase in the state's case count over a rolling seven-day period rose to 563, which was still down a recent high of 647 a day the week ending Nov. 22, just before a slowdown around Thanksgiving.
With new cases outpacing recoveries and deaths, the number of cases in the state that were considered active rose by 192, to 5,891.
Meanwhile, at 11,711, the increase in the Health Department's tally of vaccine doses that had been administered was smaller by more than 2,400 than the increase the previous Wednesday.
The count of first doses rose by 3,075, which was smaller by more than 2,400 than the increase in first doses a week earlier.
After rising a day earlier, the average number of total doses administered each day over a rolling-seven day period fell to 6,899, the first time it had been below 7,000 since the week ending Oct. 26.
The average for first doses fell to 2,284, its lowest level since the week ending Nov. 8.
