New York will expand the opening of sports and arts venues for baseball season, the governor says.

According to the city’s health data, the weekly average positive test rate has hovered near 6.5 percent for the last several days and has not dropped below 6 percent in more than three months. City officials have said new virus variants have likely kept the positivity rate from falling further, and on Thursday, Mayor Bill de Blasio said questions about the variants were a reason to delay the state’s reopening plans.

Though New York State’s number of virus-related hospitalizations remains lower than it was at the start of the year, when the state was experiencing a surge linked to holiday gatherings, it remains significantly higher than it was last summer, when the state had more stringent restrictions in place.

As of Wednesday, 4,582 people were hospitalized, down from a recent peak of 8,991 on Jan. 21, according to the state’s data. On Aug. 30, the state recorded just 418 hospitalizations.

Virus-related deaths have followed a similar trend. As of Wednesday, the state averaged 89 deaths a day over the past seven days, according to the Times database, compared to 198 on Jan. 20.

Mr. Cuomo pointed to the sustained decline over recent months as a cause for optimism.

“Covid’s coming down. Vaccine rates are going up,” Mr. Cuomo said Thursday. “Start to look to the future aggressively, and let’s get back to life and living. And get that economy running, because it is safe.”

He has also left the state’s mask mandate in place and has required businesses that reopen to meet significant capacity limits, safety requirements and social distancing protocol.

At sporting events, attendees will be required to provide a negative coronavirus test result or proof that they have been vaccinated, similar to requirements the state put in place for a Buffalo Bills playoff game in January, Mr. Cuomo said.