A person waits in line to get tested for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Times Square as the Omicron coronavirus variant continues to spread in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., December 19, 2021.
Andrew Kelly | Reuters
Mayor Bill de Blasio on Monday said New York City is experiencing a rapidly increasing wave of omicron infections, but he expects the wave to peak in the next few weeks.
“It’s going to be a very challenging few weeks,” De Blasio told the public in a Covid update on Monday. But the good news is based on what our healthcare leadership understands, at At this point, we’re talking about a couple of weeks.”
The average number of daily cases in New York City more than doubled in the week ending Friday, December 17, according to the latest data available for the city. Ministry of Health website. New York is reporting a seven-day average of more than 7,200 cases per day, up from about 3,200 the previous week, a 127% increase.
However, de Blasio said people infected with omicrons in New York so far are experiencing mild symptoms, although he noted that many questions remain unanswered and scientists are still working on it. to determine how people might get sick after contracting this variant.
“We’re going to see a very rapid increase in cases, we’re going to see a lot of New Yorkers affected by omicrons,” De Blasio said. “So far, thank God based on all we’ve seen, the cases are milder than what we’ve been through before.”
However, epidemiologists and infectious disease experts have warned that even if the omicron turns out to be milder than the dominant delta variant, it could still cause a spike in numbers. hospitalizations and deaths just because it spreads so quickly, puts a strain on some health care systems.
De Blasio emphasizes the importance of immunization to protect against omicrons. The mayor said his mandate to vaccinate private businesses is key to avoiding the shutdowns that have devastated New York City’s economy in 2020.
“We have to beat Omicron, we have to avoid outages, we have to avoid restrictions, we have to keep moving forward – vaccination is key,” De Blasio said. Nearly 80% of New York City residents have received at least one dose of the vaccine, while 71% of the population is fully vaccinated.
De Blasio said his administration is working with the White House and the private sector to address shortages of at-home testing kits at pharmacies. The mayor said the city will also open 23 more test sites this week for a total of 112 city-operated sites across all five counties.
“We find supply is becoming a challenge because testing across the country is suddenly increasing and we are seeing a supply issue that needs to be addressed,” De Blasio said.
World Health Organization officials say omicrons are more contagious than any previous variant of Covid-19. Rochelle Walensky, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said last week’s estimates put omicrons in 13% of all cases in New York and New Jersey. According to the CDC, Omicron accounts for about 3% of US Covid-19 cases nationwide.
Omicron significantly weakened the two-dose vaccine’s power to prevent infection, but a booster shot significantly increased protection against the variant. According to a field study from the UK Health Security Service, the third shot between Pfizer and BioNTech provides 70% protection against symptomatic disease.
On the other hand, the original series of vaccines provided only 33% protection from infection, but still provided 70% protection from hospitalization, according to actual data from the largest health insurer. South Africa, Discovery Health.
