As coronavirus cases continue to rise in New York City, the city entered a higher risk of contracting the virus on Monday, a worrisome reminder that the pandemic is not over and the virus is still there. potentially harmful to New Yorkers.
City moved in medium, or yellow, risk of virus transmissiona development that could trigger a return of public health restrictions, although they are not required.
Mayor Eric Adams, who last month contracted his first known case of the virus, will face tough decisions about whether to bring masks and vaccines back by the time he is out. focus on the economic recovery of the city and workers are returning to the office.
The city now has nearly 2,500 new cases per day, a significant jump from about 600 daily cases at the beginning of March. The latest increase, fueled by the highly contagious Omicron sub-variant known as BA.2, does not match the first Omicron increases in December and January, but the magnitude of cases recorded. as high as when the Delta variant swept the city last year.
Furthermore, case levels in New York City, and nationally, are likely to be much higher than official statistics say because many residents are testing at home, and positive tests at home often aren’t. included in the official results.
Mr. Adams emphasized that hospitalizations and deaths remain low; there are now more than 50 new hospitalizations and an average of 4 or 5 deaths per day in the city. In January, the number of new hospital admissions rose to 1,000 a day and the number of deaths to more than 120 a day.
New Yorkers celebrated a six-week lull in cases that began in mid-February, and many of the normal routines of life have returned. Friends gather to celebrate. Workers roam the office without wearing masks. Subway riders crept.
In early March, Mr. Adams restore long-standing restrictionsincluding mask duty at school and proof of immunization requirements at restaurants, gyms, and movie theaters. The mayor stood in Times Square and announced: “It’s time to reopen our city.”
But cases soon began to rise again, and Mr. Adams reversed its plans to end mask requirements in preschools and daycares. Some Broadway shows shut down as the virus spreads throughout their embryos.
Mr. Adams, a Democrat who took office in January, seems reluctant to bring back the mandate. He said last month that he would consider doing so, but added that he agreed with comments by Governor Kathy Hochul about the importance of moving forward.
“We have to take everything into account,” Mr. Adams said. “I think Governor Hochul was right when she said we can’t shut down our city.”
Mr. Adams also said that he was in favor of keeping proxy mask on subwaythat Hochul has maintained for all public transit statewide.
Many New Yorkers may be ready to weather the pandemic, but the virus is spreading rapidly again. Therefore, the city should consider reinstating some of the public health restrictions that have lapsed, said Gregg Gonsalves, an associate professor of epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health.
“People can be fed up, angry, tired and frustrated – so am I,” he says. “But wish the pandemic didn’t work out.”
Mr. Adams introduced color codes warning system in March, based on parameters established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Since then, the city has remained at its lowest risk level, indicated in green, meaning that virus infections are mostly below 200 per 100,000 residents per week; The city has now crossed that threshold, Dr. Ashwin Vasan, the health commissioner, said Monday.
The alert system lists several steps that Mr. Adams should consider at normal: Requiring face masks in schools again and bringing back the city’s system to check for proof of vaccinations at restaurants, gyms and indoor entertainment venues, called Key to NYC.
Under the warning system, if the city enters a high-risk level, indicated by orange, then Mr. Adams should consider requiring face masks in all indoor public settings, according to the alert system. newspaper.
Mr. Adams said last month that the keyword in the guidelines was “consider” and that the rules were only guidelines.
“I will review all the information, and after meeting with my medical team, we will make a decision,” he said.
State health officials recently announced a disturbing new development: Two new versions of the extra variable – BA.2.12 and BA.2.12.1, which appear to spread faster than BA.2 – appear to be behind the high case increases in Upstate and Central New York, where 10 counties, including Onondaga, Oswego and Wayne , has engaged in high levels of community transmission, according to the CDC
The city’s alert system is also based on a new CDC color-coding system that increases the number of cases needed to raise the alert level. In the older version, most of the Northeastincluding New York City, have been designated red zones, or high transmission areas.
Dr. Jay Varma, special advisor to former Mayor Bill de Blasio and now chief medical officer at Krollsays he’s skeptical of the alert level’s utility, because changes to it don’t trigger an actual policy change, and because it doesn’t account for the rate at which things are getting worse. .
“The problem is that going from low to medium on the health department website doesn’t really change anything,” he said. “It is very difficult to give a warning level that is not considered an actual trigger for direct action.”
Nearly 88 percent of adults in the city are fully immunized, but the rate is lower among children. Only about 45 percent of adults have received the booster dose, which experts say is important for protection from the initial doses.
Elected officials should not frame the debate as a choice between keeping the economy open and implementing safeguards, Gonsalves said, noting that as more New Yorkers are marginalized, Mr. sick, which means they can’t go to work.
“No one is suggesting that Mayor Adams or Governor Hochul should shut everything down or go back to April 2020,” he said. “Modest measures to protect the health of New Yorkers are warranted.”
