New Yorkers are scrambling to react to the sudden wave of COVID-19 at the city’s door step just days before the Christmas holiday. NBC New York’s Jessica Cunnington and Ida Siegal report.
Finding their city in the middle of a winter wave of new COVID-19 infections, Mayor Bill de Blasio and Mayor-elect Eric Adams delivered a Sunday address to promote vaccinations and booster shots to try and curb the current spread that has already delivered record pandemic numbers.
In the span of a week, New York City has found itself in the midst of an "omicron wave," with the number of people testing positive for the virus doubling in a matter of days and setting all-time records for single-day reporting.
The state broke its own record for a third day in a row Sunday, reporting almost 22,500 cases. More than 12,000 of those new positive cases came from the city, according to state data, reflecting another record-high for the Big Apple as well. In the past four days alone, 0.5% of the state has tested positive for COVID-19.
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The incoming and outgoing mayors delivered a unified message to New Yorkers: get vaccinated and get boosted now. Health department data shows roughly 71% of all New York City residents are fully vaccinated.
"Vaccination remains vital even against omicron because it can protect you from severe disease," Dr. Dave Chokshi, the city's health commissioner, said Sunday. The city's top doctor referred to the new variant as the "fastest, fittest and more formidable" one yet.
De Blasio, in the final days of his time as mayor, acknowledged the city is facing a "substantial rise in a way we haven't seen previously." Between vaccines, booster shots an expanding testing apparatus, he said the city is much better equipped than in previous waves.
New testing sites will come online in the next couple days, with new locations opening in each borough to try and help mitigate the high demand.
“We expect omicron to be a fast and temporary phenomenon. We expect these next weeks to see a very, very big surge in cases — more than we’ve seen previously," the mayor stated.
In the meantime, many have the same question: what is safe to go out and do during the holidays? The mayor and city health officials on the Sunday press call said New Yorkers who are immunocompromised or 65 years and above should rethink attending optional events during the next few weeks. Chokshi advised planning around the most vulnerable individual in any given group gathering and consider moving activities outdoor if possible.
One of the biggest events of the season is the upcoming New Year's Eve celebration in Times Square. The outdoor festivities is scheduled to go-ahead, but a final decision will come by Christmas, de Blasio said.
The unusual weekend appearance came amid record-breaking positive cases in the Big Apple as well as the rest of the state. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has reported back-to-back new records for the state, smashing previous highs from January.
The key differences between this current surge and the one of the deadliest months of the pandemic back at the start of the year are hospitalizations and vaccines. Back in January, vaccines were still rolling out to the most vulnerable populations of the country and would take several more months before they were widely available to all Americans.
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Hospitalizations at the time were overwhelming; New York reported nearly 9,000 hospital admissions due to COVID-19. That current figure is still below 4,000 for the state.
"This is not like the beginning of the pandemic. We are prepared for the winter surge because we have the tools at our disposal," Hochul said in her press release Saturday. "Getting vaccinated, getting the booster and wearing a mask are critical to avoiding getting seriously ill from COVID-19, so don't take a chance."
On Saturday, the governor's daily report showed nearly 22,000 people in the state had tested positive for COVID-19, just one day after setting a new record for the first time in 11 months. The 21,908 new infections came from a pot of 290,930 tests completed statewide. Hospitalizations across New York are seeing a small increase, but still remain well below half of what was reported back in January.
The surge in cases has already delivered a crushing blow to live performance in New York City. "Saturday Night Live" was forced to tape their holiday episode with host Paul Rudd without an audience, musical guests and most of the cast and crew. And just one day earlier, the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular closed the season early following breakthrough detections.
Those changes come on the heels of a tough week for Broadway, which has seen dozens of performance cancelations due to positive cases detected among cast and crew.
In an effort to bolster current vaccination efforts, the governor on Friday announced plans to expand the state's vaccine operations by adding an additional 40 pop-up locations across the state.
A handful of the sites are coming on line this weekend, with the rest set to be operational in the coming weeks, Hochul said. Find the full list of pop-up sites here.
Top health officials and elected leaders are reiterating the message that vaccines and booster shots remain one of the greatest defenses against the oncoming winter surge that appears to already be on the country's front doorstep.
"We will continue to work with local partners to make vaccines, boosters and testing more widely available. Let's all celebrate the holiday season with our friends and family safely this year," Hochul added.
According to the CDC, roughly 25% of the state's population has received a booster dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. That accounts for roughly 3.7 million New Yorkers.
"By making a plan to visit one of these Pop-Ups that is convenient for you and your family, you are helping to keep your family and all New Yorkers safe," Acting Health Commissioner Dr. Mary Bassett added.
Source: CoVariants
Amy O’Kruk/NBC
The steep rise in infections should be of great concern but it was inevitable, given the quick spread of the newest variant, said Dr. Denis Nash, the executive director of the Institute for Implementation Science in Population Health at the City University of New York.
“We were already headed for a winter surge with delta, which is a very concerning thing in its own right,” Nash said.
“But then you layer on top of that the new omicron variant, which is more transmissible from an infection standpoint,” he said, noting that current vaccines may be unable to contain the “more invasive” new variant.
"The omicron symptoms have been very mild. The impact on those vaccinated has been clinically mild. It's not converting to admissions to the hospital, or deaths," said Dr. Yves Derouseu, Emergency Services Director at Lenox Hill Hospital.
Despite what appear to be milder COVID cases caused by the omicron variant, some of the world's top experts worry the variant is so transmissible, that it may yet still tax our region's hospital system. Columbia University's Dr. David Ho estimates that the average person infected with the omicron variant to five others — and said that the U.S. need only look across the pond to see what still may be in store.
"The UK surge is bigger than any that they have seen before. Good modeling and data is a week or two behind — that's what we need to prepare for a surge worse than what we've seen before," Dr. Ho said.
In an effort to combat both the delta and omicron variants, the state is rushing to acquire millions of at-home tests for New Yorkers living in communities with lower vaccine rates. On CNN Friday, the governor confirmed 1 million cases were already in hand with another 2 million on the way.
