In just three days New York City’s Covid-19 positivity rate doubled as the city battles a virus surge ahead of the holidays, Dr. Jay Varma who is a top health advisor to Mayor Bill de Blasio, tweeted Thursday. “Um, we’ve never seen this before in #NYC,” he wrote. It’s an indication of omicron evading immunity in a way no other variant has before.
The percentage of positive tests in the city spiked from 3.9% to 7.8% for the period from Dec. 9 to Dec. 12. “This is #SARSCoV2 evading both vaccine & virus induced immunity against infection unlike any variant before,” Varma added.
As the omicron variant spreads, positivity rates are rising. According to data released Wednesday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, New York and New Jersey are the two states with the most rapid spread of the newly identified variant. The data shows that 13.1% of cases in the CDC region that includes New York and New Jersey are omicron, compared with a national average of 2.9%.
“Omicron is here in New York City and it is spreading quickly,” Dr. Dave A. Chokshi, commissioner of the New York City health department.
De Blasio and his health advisors at the briefing expressed concern ahead of the holiday season. Demand for testing has increased following a few major events, including last weekend’s annual SantaCon pub crawl event.
“We’re seeing a surge ahead of the holidays,” Chokshi said. “I do expect cases will continue to increase in the coming days,” he added.
The mayor emphasized, getting vaccinated is the best way to protect against omicron and severe disease. “Don’t wait, get your booster shot right now,” he said.
Almost exactly one month after Mayor Bill de Blasio triumphantly announced tens of thousands of fully vaccinated people could return to Times Square to celebrate New Year’s Eve in person this year, the unprecedented omicron-fueled COVID surge enveloping the former epicenter of the pandemic has him willing to reconsider. De Blasio said the party is on for now but that could change at some point if the data indicates differently.
“We made the decision a few weeks back when things were much better. But we said vaccinated people only,” the Democrat said. “Everyone’s been told for weeks and weeks, don’t even show up in Times Square unless you’re vaccinated.”
“Now we’re going to reassess constantly with the new information. We’re going to follow the data and the science,” he added. “Right now, it’s on. You know, we’ll make a decision as we go, get closer as to what should finally happen.”
While that full vaccination requirement is what led de Blasio to be confident in a safe, jam-packed Crossroads of the World to close out 2021, a growing number of people who planned to go may be wondering if it is still enough.
The city’s rolling daily case average is up almost 57% over the rolling averages for the previous four weeks and COVID hospitalizations are up nearly 31%. Delta is the variant believed to be fueling the spike in more severe cases, while omicron is thought to be behind the surge in infections. Both are called “variants of concern.” The city does not report how many of the new cases are breakthrough infections. They are still believed to be a very small fraction of new COVID cases, and a minute fraction of new hospitalizations, but both of those fractions have been steadily rising since the emergence of omicron in November, state data shows.
Several Broadway shows, from “Hamilton,” to “Moulin Rouge” to “Mrs. Doubtfire” and others, are canceling performances because of the increase. In some cases, the breakthrough cases in the companies are discovered so late and unexpectedly that audiences are in their seats when they learn the show will not go on.
While the first U.S. omicron case was only confirmed 16 days ago, health officials believe it was in America — and New York, which is detecting it at four times the rate of the rest of the country, the CDC said this week — well before that.
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