You’ve probably heard about the XBB.1.5 variant; it’s the latest “most transmissible COVID variant yet” and appears to be better at binding to human cells, which may make it more adept at infecting
There’s no evidence at this point that the strain, a combination of two prior omicron subvariants, is more lethal or more likely to cause COVID complications, but as a top White House official said last week, if you haven’t been vaccinated or infected lately, your protection probably isn’t so good
Nowhere is XBB.1.5 more prevalent than in the northeastern United States, according to the CDC — and rolling hospitalization and death rates, along with cases, are climbing accordingly
COVID-19 hospitalizations in New York and New Jersey have soared to 11-month highs as the most transmissible variant yet, a combination of two prior omicron strains, fuels yet another infection wave nearly three full years into the pandemic, the latest federal health data show.
Deaths are also climbing, with weekly fatality reports for both states currently at their highest levels since early last year, according to the CDC. In New York City, the rolling COVID fatality average is the highest it’s been since February 2022, while rolling hospitalizations are at a height not seen since the downswing of the initial omicron wave.
CDC COVID guidelines say face masks should be worn across the board in New York City, Long Island and much of the Hudson Valley, given the high spread rate. And the entire state of New Jersey is at the agency’s highest risk level, its latest data shows. While elected officials and their health departments have advised people to follow those guidelines, especially if they’re more vulnerable in terms of age or underlying conditions, no new mandates have been issued.
CDC
COVID community levels in NY
CDC
COVID community levels in NJ
And no new mandates are expected, either, at this point in the pandemic.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, both of them Democrats, are each set to deliver their State of the State addresses on Tuesday. It remains to be seen whether the ongoing COVID response will once again play a feature role in those speeches. Given these charts, the odds are fairly likely.
NEW YORK STATE COVID TRENDS (via CDC)
HOSPITALIZATIONS
CDC
CASES AND DEATHS
CDC
COVID cases and deaths in New York via CDC
Last week, New York state’s Department of Health announced the XBB.1.5 variant is far and away the most dominant strain locally, accounting for more than 50% of statewide infections. That share is likely considerably higher, given the relatively low proportion of positive tests that undergo the exhaustive genetic sequencing process to isolate variants.
The same can be said for New Jersey, where the 38.4% share of sequences cases tied to XBB.1.5 reflects data not updated since mid-December. In New York City, where data also lags, XBB.1.5’s prevalence is likely well above the 68% share that the health department last updated on Christmas Eve.
NEW JERSEY COVID TRENDS
CDC
New Jersey COVID hospitalization trends
CDC
New Jersey COVID case and death trends
The latest CDC data suggests that XBB.1.5 is spreading in the northeastern United States at a much higher rate than the rest of the country, accounting for up to 81% of cases in the region comprising New York and New Jersey compared with a 43% high estimate for the nation.
While there is “not yet clear evidence,” according to New York state, that XBB.1.5 significantly affects COVID’s virulence or disease severity, early data does indicate it is more infectious than other circulating variants. The fact it has emerged at a time when both COVID and flu cases remain high is further cause for heightened caution, it says.
New York City positivity rates are bearing out the transmissibility concerns, with more than a third of neighborhoods across the five boroughs seeing those numbers in excess of 20% — and some spots topping 30% positivity.
NYC COVID VARIANT AND HOSPITALIZATION DATA
NYC
This chart represents COVID variants in NYC. The top line is XBB.1.5.
NYC Health Department
NYC COVID hospitalization trends
Omicron is still classified as a variant of concern according to the CDC and the World Health Organization. That strain, which first emerged in South Africa in November 2021, though likely was there earlier, is the only variant of concern currently in circulation, according to WHO.
To be a variant of concern, WHO says a strain must be associated with one or more of the following changes at a degree of global significance:
Increase in transmissibility or detrimental change in COVID-19 epidemiology; OR
Increase in virulence or change in clinical disease presentation; OR
Decrease in effectiveness of public health and social measures or available diagnostics, vaccines, therapeutics
The CDC said the new COVID-19 variant is responsible for 75% of new cases.
Given their level of infectiousness and ongoing mutation, WHO advises each omicron descendant be monitored distinctly. That’s what officials in New York and New Jersey continue to do as they plead with the public to double down on the mitigation factors that have proven to work since the onset of the pandemic, from hand-washing and staying home when sick to vaccination, masking up in crowded areas and getting tested regularly.
Hochul continues to urge New Yorkers — and so does the White House — to get their updated bivalent booster shots if they haven’t already (see vaccine data). The head of the White House Task Force on COVID recently underscored the point, saying if you haven’t been infected lately or had that booster, you’re likely not protected from XBB.1.5.
Overall, experts say that healthy, vaccinated people still are at much lower risk for COVID complications than immunocompromised or un- and undervaccinated people.
As Hochul said in her latest COVID update, “I urge everyone to remain vigilant and continue to use all available tools to keep themselves, their loved ones and their communities safe and healthy. Stay up to date on vaccine doses, and test before gatherings or travel. If you test positive, talk to your doctor about potential treatment options.”
Photos of Debbie Botzum-Pearson before (left) and after neuromyelitis optica (Courtesy of Debbie Botzum-Pearson).
On the morning of Jan. 15, 2022, Debbie Botzum-Pearman, who had been a strong healthy woman for 66 years, woke up paralyzed from the chest down.
On Sept. 13, 2022, nearly nine months later, she managed to stand up without assistance for 10 seconds. Since then, she has made a steady recovery. She has regained sensation in her thighs and taken her first steps with a walker. But, a long journey remains ahead of her.
Debbie’s symptoms appeared less than a month after her first Pfizer COVID-19 booster shot. She had taken the shot in mid-December and felt fine, the same as with her previous COVID-19 shots.
Looking back now, Debbie realized that leading up to her sudden paralysis, she had been feeling that her bra was getting too tight. This sensation is also called MS (multiple sclerosis) hug, and some people can experience these symptoms even without MS.
The first dominoes toppled on Jan. 14. She was finishing her painting work at her friend’s house when she realized that she could not pee despite having the urge to urinate.
“I was drinking water…could not pee, just could not pee,” she told The Epoch Times.
She got home that day and as she was walking up the stairs, her left leg gave out and she peed over herself.
She went to bed and on the following morning, Debbie was paralyzed from the chest down and rushed to urgent care.
“I probably had 15 MRIs and a spinal tap [at the hospital]…they came back [a few days later] with neuromyelitis [optica],” Debbie said.
“[Neuromyelitis] ate away, I don’t know, four or five inches [of my spinal cord on the MRI], which is repairing itself now.”
Neuromyelitis, scientifically known as neuromyelitis optica (NMO), is a rare condition affecting around 1 to 2 people out of 100,000 every year. The condition destroys the nerves in the central nervous system and the eyes, and can cause paralysis, weakness, and even blindness if not treated.
Onset of NMO is usually precipitated by a viral or bacterial infection such as Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) or bacterial meningitis. It primarily appears during childhood as well as in women in their 30s and 40s. Risk factors include smoking and having a family history of autoimmune disease.
However, apart from her sex, Debbie did not have any of these risk factors.
Neuromyelitis is mostly unheard of, often overshadowed by and misdiagnosed as the more well known MS, which is another, distinct disease.
Fortunately for Debbie, her doctor was competent and had excellent clinical judgment. Even before the tests and diagnosis returned, he ruled that Debbie was experiencing NMO. Her doctor also allegedly concluded that the booster shot from a month ago was the cause.
The Epoch Times could not verify the identity of the doctor nor his statement, but Debbie and her adoptive son, Jared Pearson, expressed that the anonymous doctor’s statements were what drove their suspicions that her illness was vaccine induced.
Debbie recalled it was probably the day she was admitted, “[the doctor] came in, shut the door and asked if I had the booster. I didn’t mention [that I had the booster] and he’s the one who declared that it was from the vaccine,” she said.
Debbie was put on a blood purifying machine (plasmapheresis) which cycled out the plasma from her blood to remove autoantibodies that were attacking her own nerves.
Debbie was in the hospital for a week, and she recalled that pretty much everyday she was having blood treatments.
Both Debbie and Jared have nothing but gratitude for the doctor; they are convinced that if it was not for the doctor’s quick judgment, Debbie would have fared a lot worse. However, the doctor allegedly told Debbie that he could not make his diagnosis known in the hospital, lest he get fired.
“One of the things that really strikes us is how disincentivized everyone in the medical community is of discussing and analyzing adverse effects to the vaccine…[the doctor] had to secretly acknowledge that [the vaccine] was what caused her symptoms in order to save her life,” said Jared.
“I understand that there [may be] 1 in a million [chance of getting certain adverse effects], that 1 in a million is a real person who has a real life that gets ruined, and sometimes that’s your card.”
The coronavirus spike protein (red) mediates the virus entry into host cells. It binds to the angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (blue) and fuses viral and host membranes. (Juan Gaertner/Shutterstock)
Spike Protein and Autoimmunity
Debbie is in no way an isolated case. Since the rollout of the COVID-19 mRNA and DNA injections, reports of neuromyelitis, multiple sclerosis, Guillain-Barre syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, shingles, lupus, diabetes, and many other autoimmune conditions have either suddenly appeared, or relapsed, often with worsened symptoms.
Autoimmunity is a health condition where the body’s immune system becomes confused and unable to differentiate between self and non-self and attacks its own tissues.
The development of autoimmunity is believed to be a result of the interactions of both genetic and environmental factors. Certain autoimmune diseases tend to cluster in families, such as rheumatoid arthritis, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, and lupus.
Although genetics plays a role, the development of autoimmunity also depends on environmental exposures to infections and toxins as well as lifestyle, nutritional health, and various metabolic and detoxification processes.
In the case of COVID-19 and its vaccines, many studies since the start of the pandemic have shown that the spike protein shares similarities with human proteins both in its structure and in its basic chemical sequence.
This means the spike protein can increase the risk of developing autoimmunity and implies that the mRNA and DNA vaccines, which cause the body to make large amounts of spike protein, would do the same.
“If the spike protein from SARS-CoV-2 contribute to autoimmunity, then why not spike protein from the vaccine? It seems that somehow when we get to that point, the scientists and many people try to keep their distance,” said Dr. Aristo Vojdani, head of Immunosciences Lab and a pioneer in the field of clinical immunology.
Cross Reactivity Hypothesis
A recent study published by Florida International University concluded that this is possible after comparing COVID-19 spike protein sequences to structures of both human and animal proteins.
The authors found that human proteins had the most sequence sets that were the same as spike proteins with 627 regions in common.
A spike protein is made up of 1,273 amino acids. Therefore, the data showing that the protein shares around 600 regions composed of sequences made up of sets of at least five amino acids, indicates that the spike protein shares many similarities, with areas of overlapping hot spots.
There are also 20 regions where the spike protein shares not only the same sequences of amino acids, it also shares the same shape.
Dr. Peter McCullough, cardiologist and co-author of Courage to Face the Virus, told The Epoch Times that the study explains the phenomena we are seeing in vaccinated and infected individuals.
Peter McCullough, cardiologist, speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Dallas at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas, Texas, on Aug. 5, 2022. (Bobby Sanchez for The Epoch Times)
“One is the actin-binding protein IPP that would influence heart muscle. So the auto-attack against this actin binding muscle could be part of the pathogenesis of myocarditis. The same is true for the tropomyosin alpha 3 chain [found in smooth muscles]. So some of these 3d targets are explaining some of these post respiratory illnesses in post vaccine syndromes that we’re seeing.”
The authors of the study specifically focused on two sequences with high similarity. One is the TQLPP sequence which is found on the human protein thrombopoietin, a protein in charge of recruiting platelets to stop bleeding. Another is the ELDKY sequence which is shared across the PRKG1 protein which is involved in platelet activation and calcium regulation, both of which are critical for blood clots.
Another protein is the aforementioned tropomyosin. The authors also speculated that antibody cross reacting to tropomyosin may be linked to cardiac diseases. “Antibodies cross-reacting with PRKG1 and tropomyosin may cause known COVID-19 complications such as blood-clotting disorders and cardiac disease, respectively,” they wrote.
However, Dr. Aristo Vojdani, an expert in autoimmunity, owner of 17 U.S. patents, co-author to 200 studies and two books on immunity told The Epoch Times that the regions identified by the recent study are not all of the regions that share similarities with human proteins.
He cited a study led by Dr. Yehuda Shoenfeldn that found the spike protein shares similarities with 34 different human proteins in amino acid sequences in sets of sixes.
These include proteins found in the thyroid, brain, nose, ear, skin, muscles, heart, blood, nerves, joints, intestines, and many more.
Shoenfelden and his colleagues speculated that the spike protein may trigger Guillain-Barre syndrome, viral arthritis, immune thrombocytopenic purpura (bleeding), antiphospholipid syndrome, Kawasaki disease, systemic lupus erythematosus, and many others.
“The goal of the vaccine is to produce exactly the same spike protein that is in the virus… Because after vaccination, individuals will produce neutralizing antibodies. So in reality when the real virus will get into the human body those antibodies made against spike protein through mRNA injection or vaccination notifies [the body there’s] the virus,” said Vojdani.
Therefore, if the spike protein in the virus increases the risk of autoimmunity, there is reason to believe the spike proteins produced from the injections should do the same.
Studies Show Anti-SARS-CoV-2-Antibodies Attacking Human Tissue
In rebuttal, some studies have stated that similarities between human tissues and the spike protein are not enough for autoimmunity to occur.
Therefore, Vojdani and his colleagues have done further studies to test if spike proteins actually do pose a significant risk.
Photo of Dr. Aristo Vojdani, (Courtesy of Dr. Vojdani)
In one study, Vojdani took laboratory-made antibodies that attack human tissues, such as thyroid proteins, mitochondria, smooth muscle, and other proteins, and mixed them with spike proteins.
“[The antibodies] reacted strongly [with the spike proteins],” Vojdani said.
Because antibodies that attack human proteins also attack spike proteins, this implies that antibodies made against spike proteins may also attack human proteins.
His second evidence came from another study where he took monoclonal antibodies made in the laboratories against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and added them to human tissue.
“They reacted from moderately to strongly with various tissue antigens including the muscles, joints, thyroid, brain, skin, gastrointestinal tract, almost any antigen taken from different parts of the body.”
The study found the anti-spike protein-antibodies reacted particularly strongly against proteins in the motor neurons, followed by strong reactions against mitochondrial proteins and against DNA. Having anti-DNA antibodies (ANA) are a hallmark sign of autoimmunity.
“That [is] additional evidence to support that spike protein not only shares homology with human tissue, when we will make antibodies … those antibodies may turn against our body and induce autoimmunity.”
“The third evidence came in our research where we obtained sera [the liquid in the blood, excluding red and white blood cells] … from many individuals with COVID versus healthy subjects.”
Vojdani and his colleagues found serum isolated from people who were infected with COVID-19 had more antibodies against human tissues than people who were not infected.
The last study he cited also indicated, considering that the spike protein is a major component of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, it is able to generate autoimmune antibodies.
Vojdani said that he is waiting for more research to implicate the mRNA and DNA vaccine induced spike proteins’ roles in autoimmunity, because it normally can take several months to decades for autoimmunity to develop.
“It’s really too early to come to any conclusion, whether the vaccine contributes to autoimmunity.”
Though, he suggested researchers can test for vaccine-induced autoimmunity by harvesting antibodies from the vaccinated and comparing them to human proteins, possibly even testing to see if they react with human tissue.
Why Are Experts Concerned More About Vaccines Than Virus?
Dr. McCullough said that in infection, most people are able to clear the virus within days or weeks with early treatment, and most of the virus are also confined to the lungs, while the vaccines are directly shot into the muscles.
“Many [COVID-19] patients with respiratory illness, when they get early treatment, they just have a few days of symptoms, and that’s it—there’s little chance of systemic invasion. Whereas with the vaccine, everybody has systemic invasion of spike protein because it’s bypassing the sinuses.”
McCullough cited a paper led by Dr. Alana Ogata that detected S1 proteins (a portion of the spike protein) over 40 days and spike proteins around 30 days post-vaccination respectively. This is longer than the average period of infectiousness.
However, McCullough’s bigger concern is that with vaccine rollouts and people unaware of the risks, they would be taking boosters every six months, with the spike protein produced systematically, and persisting in the body for months.
“The opportunity for autoimmunity with injections every six months and boosters is tremendous,” he said. “The vaccines, because of the fact that they’re given by an injection in the arm—[it] is called parenteral [injections] … We are really, really running risks of autoimmunity in patients.”
Additionally, with a global rollout of the vaccines, and knowing that there may still be regions on the spike proteins that align with human sequences that we do not know about, McCullough speculates that it puts people at risk of developing autoimmune diseases that are less studied, more obscure, including possibly whole new types of autoimmune conditions.
“Autoimmunity is already a human problem … now we’re introducing a possibility for a massive number of new autoimmune syndromes, and it’s just because of the indiscriminate use of [COVID-19] vaccines.”
“[If] they were using [vaccines in] a small limited, high risk group, we wouldn’t be facing some of these very large possibilities of bad things happening in the human population, to two thirds of the world taking a vaccine. Even if a tiny percent develop autoimmunity, it’s going to be a massive number of people with autoimmune syndromes … it is really going to be a problem because of indiscriminate vaccination.”
Treatment Options
Dr. Ana Maria Mihalcea, who is an internal medical doctor and practices integrative and chelating medicine, said that she has had successes in treating patients who developed autoimmunity following vaccination.
Photo of Dr. Ana Maria Mihalcea (Courtesy of Dr. Mihalcea)
“This is tested with a blood test looking for anti-nuclear antibodies (ANA), in essence they are showing an attack of the immune system against their own DNA,” she wrote in an email.
Mihalcea said that many people have treated autoimmunity associated with possible vaccine adverse effects with high doses of vitamin C and D daily (anti-inflammatory), as well as multiple vitamins, N-Acetyl cysteine (antioxidant and anti-inflammatory), and blood thinners.
Daily intake of quercetin (anti-inflammatory and ameliorates autoimmunity in animal studies), zinc (deficiencies associated with autoimmunity), dimethyl glycine (improves immune function), and methylene blue (antimicrobial, antitoxin, anti-inflammatory), as well as ivermectin (anti-inflammatory, improves cell healing) twice a week and hydroxychloroquine (anti-inflammatory, common autoimmune drug) three times a week are also recommended.
“In addition, I have done Vitamin C infusions and used the anti-aging peptides Epithalon which lengthens telomeres, repairs DNA, and age-reverses cells, and GHK Copper.”
Studies have shown that GHK copper can reset the human DNA, possibly resetting cellular action including autoimmune activity.
Debbie standing up unassisted. (Courtesy of Debbie)
Debbie’s Journey Now
Jared expressed that what he found the most difficult to accept was the severe censorship and neglect Debbie faced during her recovery.
“When Debbie stands there and says, ‘I got the 1 in a million card’ [and got an adverse effect from the vaccine], everyone says ‘no, you didn’t, and don’t even talk about it and be quiet, otherwise you’re gonna get me fired,’ that’s a really crazy thing to have to deal with when she’s also trying to just deal with making her body work again.”
After a week of hospital treatment, Debbie entered remission and was put into rehabilitation to return mobility to her core and legs. She was left mostly unattended in the two months of rehabilitation and developed bed sores and deep venous blood clots from sitting and lying immobile for hours on end.
Since beginning rehabilitation at home in April, she has slowly gained mobility and sensation in her lower limbs. Yet, preceding regaining sensations, she experienced two months of excruciating pain.
“My feet felt like they were on fire and I would have shooting pain all the way up to my thighs, very, very, very painful. More painful than having a baby.”
However, her clinicians gave her the paradoxical answer that pain was a good sign, it showed the nerves going back online. Debbie toughed it out but sensation in her legs is still mostly abnormal.
“My legs, if I move them and I don’t have socks on, … feel like [they are being rubbed by] sandpaper. If I have a glass with condensation and it drips on my thigh, it hurts.”
Debbie stood up unassisted for the first time on Sept. 13, 2022.
Her doctors have told Debbie that she can make a full recovery. Debbie believes she is around 50 to 60 percent through her journey.
Pfizer did not respond to The Epoch Times’ request for a comment.
NEW YORK CITY (WABC) — New York City is expected to enter the high COVID-19 alert level in the coming days, and health officials are strongly recommending wearing masks in public indoor settings.
The city is currently in the medium alert level, but that is expected to change as cases increase.
The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene issued an advisory Monday that urges all residents to use high-quality masks – such as KN95 and KF94 masks and N95 respirators – when indoors and in a public setting, including at grocery stores, building lobbies, offices, stores, and other common or shared spaces where individuals may interact, such as restrooms, hallways, elevators, and meeting rooms.
The advisory notes particular importance for people who are at high risk of severe illness and death, namely those who are over 65 or who are unvaccinated.
Map: 7-day rolling positivity rates by Zip code:
The health department advises people at high risk of severe illness due to an underlying medical condition, older adults and people who are unvaccinated, including children under the age of five who are not yet eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine, to avoid crowded settings and non-essential gatherings, particularly indoors.
In addition, the advisory notes that the impact of COVID-19 transmission is higher in settings with a high number of unvaccinated people.
Despite the steady increase in COVID-19 infections across the state, New York City Mayor Eric Adams insisted on Monday that the city is not yet ready to reinstate its indoor mask mandate.
“We’re not at that point yet,” he said. “We’re not at the point of doing anything other than urging New Yorkers while you’re indoors in large set-in social settings. We’re not going to panic. We’re going to continue to be prepared.”
Infection rates across the city have been steadily on the rise for more than two months, and this week, New York City reported its highest average number of new infections since late January.
Adams stressed that even with increases, the city is in a different place than it was at the onset of the pandemic, with key tools now at people’s disposal to help blunt the impact of the virus.
“We now have the antivirals, we didn’t have that before,” he said. “We have more tools, so we don’t have to fight the war we had before. This is a new war. And we’re going to use all those tools to do so.”
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On the state level, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul reported on Monday that she continues to work with federal and state officials to ensure the state is prepared for any sort of surge that could appear in the months ahead.
“Today, I spoke with White House COVID-19 coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha about the state of the pandemic and the Administration’s preparation plans to ensure states have the resources, supplies, and distribution networks needed to manage potential surges across the country this summer and fall,” Hochul said in a press release.
Adams recently took action to bolster the city’s COVID-19 preparedness and prepare New Yorkers for any future waves, announcing the distribution of an additional 16.5 million at-home COVID-19 tests and 1 million high-quality masks over the next month to 1,600 public schools and more than 1,000 community organizations, libraries, cultural institutions, houses of worship, and elected offices participating in the city’s At-Home Test Distribution Program.
The distribution effort joins other measures to blunt the worst impacts of the current wave, including the distribution of 35,000 COVID-19 courses of treatment to date.
The city has also distributed 20 million at-home tests to schools and participating community organizations to date, meaning this additional surge of tests will bring the total distributed at-home tests to over 36 million. Additionally, eligible New Yorkers are encouraged to take advantage of free, at-home delivery of COVID-19 treatments.
“It’s never been easier for New Yorkers to get a free at-home test, a high-quality mask, or access COVID-19 treatments in New York City,” Adams said. “At-home tests and masks provide reliable and convenient ways for New Yorkers to confidently and safely protect themselves and others and allow them to enjoy our city. I encourage all New Yorkers to go out and pick up a free at-home test as soon as they can to remain prepared, to mask up in indoor public settings, and to take advantage of the life-saving treatments we now have readily available to fight this virus. These combined tools not only are a blessing that we previously did not have access to, but also will allow us to combat this disease in the future, instead of in the past.”
Through community partnerships, Test & Trace has distributed 2.3 million tests and currently maintains a stockpile of tens of millions of tests that can be rapidly distributed if needed.
At-home test distribution through Test & Trace’s network of 192 prominent cultural sites and library branches brings critical self-testing resources to areas of need at familiar locations in all five boroughs. Test & Trace makes weekly deliveries of at-home tests to participating cultural sites and libraries, where they are distributed on a first-come, first-served basis.
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Additionally, over 850 community and faith-based organizations – including 243 houses of worship – have signed up to regularly distribute at-home tests. Any New York City-based community organization that would like to participate as an at-home test distribution partner is encouraged to sign up online.
New Yorkers can find an at-home test distribution pick up location most convenient to them and their hours of operation by visiting the city’s COVID-19 testing page. New Yorkers with a disability who need assistance or have questions regarding at home test kits should call 311. Those who are deaf or hard of hearing and use American Sign Language can call via video phone at 646-396-5830.
New Yorkers who test positive using an at-home test can call 212-COVID19 to be connected to resources like free meal and care package delivery. Care packages contain personal protection equipment (PPE) for a household of three to quarantine, two rapid antigen at-home tests, and other necessities to help New Yorkers safely isolate.
Multiple COVID-19 treatments are available for people ages 12 and older, and can be delivered to New Yorkers’ homes for free. For more information on COVID-19 treatments, please call 212-COVID19 and press 9 or visit nyc.gov/health/covidtreatments.
Calling 212-COVID19 provides New Yorkers an immediate connection to a clinician who can refer them to monoclonal antibody treatment or prescribe antiviral medications, like Paxlovid, and arrange to have it delivered to their home that same day for free.
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NEW YORK CITY (WABC) — New York City is taking another step to bounce back from the pandemic, with the city set to drop several safety protocols, including a school mask mandate and vaccination requirements for businesses.
Restaurants and indoor venues will no longer have to require proof of vaccination.
However, some public indoor businesses like Broadway shows, are keeping their mask and vaccine requirements through at least the end of this month.
You’ll also still need to wear your mask on mass transit or when you see a doctor.
In public schools, masks will be optional for students ages 5 and up.
Masks are still required for those participating in early childhood programs and in the nurse’s office.
Right now, the COVID infection rate is at 1.8%. That’s the lowest level since August.
In New Jersey, they are also ending their mask mandate for schools and daycares.
It also marks the end of New Jersey’s public health emergency on Monday.
ALSO READ | Mayor Eric Adams says Key to NYC, public school masks mandate both end on Monday
MORE CORONAVIRUS COVID-19 COVERAGE
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is issuing new advice for people who are immunocompromised.
The health organization said people who’ve had the MRNA vaccines should look to get a fourth shot at least three months after the previous booster.
The CDC had previously been recommending a wait of at least five months.
RELATED: Could there be a universal vaccine for any type of coronavirus, not just COVID-19?
The new guidance applies to people 18 and older who’ve had the Moderna vaccine, as well as those ages 12 and older for the Pfizer-BioNTech version.
Government health officials are making the revision amid reports some pharmacies were turning away immunocompromised people looking for a fourth vaccine dose.
A CDC official said there’s been “recent confusion about the recommendations” for people in this group. It was in October when the agency released guidance those Americans get a fourth vaccine dose.
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There’s also revised guidance for immunocompromised people who’ve had the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. It is a recommendation to get an MRNA dose at least 28 days after the first shot, followed by a third dose at least two months later.
Why Vaccinated People Aren’t Getting Boosted
Roughly half of those eligible to receive a booster shot of the COVID vaccine have not gotten one, according to data from the CDC.
Dr. Anthony Fauci said he’s baffled about that.
Fauci addressed the issue during a White House COVID-19 Response Team briefing Wednesday.
“Why would people who had enough understanding of the risk to go ahead and get a primary series – why we don’t have more getting the booster? I don’t have an easy explanation for that. That’s one of the reasons why we keep trying to put the data out,” Fauci said.
CDC Director Dr. Rachel Walensky said at the briefing that 54% of people hospitalized for COVID over the age of 65 are unvaccinated.
That’s despite data showing just 12% of Americans in that age group are unvaccinated.
Unvaccinated people are 97% more likely to die of COVID than those who are fully vaccinated and boosted, according to new CDC information.
Walensky also presented the data Wednesday at the White House COVID meeting.
The findings are based on information collected in early December.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is issuing new advice for people who are immunocompromised.
The health organization said people who’ve had the MRNA vaccines should look to get a fourth shot at least three months after the previous booster.
The CDC had previously been recommending a wait of at least five months.
RELATED: Could there be a universal vaccine for any type of coronavirus, not just COVID-19?
The new guidance applies to people 18 and older who’ve had the Moderna vaccine, as well as those ages 12 and older for the Pfizer-BioNTech version.
Government health officials are making the revision amid reports some pharmacies were turning away immunocompromised people looking for a fourth vaccine dose.
A CDC official said there’s been “recent confusion about the recommendations” for people in this group. It was in October when the agency released guidance those Americans get a fourth vaccine dose.
ALSO SEE: Nurses accused of making $1.5M selling fake vaccine cards in New York
There’s also revised guidance for immunocompromised people who’ve had the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. It is a recommendation to get an MRNA dose at least 28 days after the first shot, followed by a third dose at least two months later.
Why Vaccinated People Aren’t Getting Boosted
Roughly half of those eligible to receive a booster shot of the COVID vaccine have not gotten one, according to data from the CDC.
Dr. Anthony Fauci said he’s baffled about that.
Fauci addressed the issue during a White House COVID-19 Response Team briefing Wednesday.
“Why would people who had enough understanding of the risk to go ahead and get a primary series – why we don’t have more getting the booster? I don’t have an easy explanation for that. That’s one of the reasons why we keep trying to put the data out,” Fauci said.
CDC Director Dr. Rachel Walensky said at the briefing that 54% of people hospitalized for COVID over the age of 65 are unvaccinated.
That’s despite data showing just 12% of Americans in that age group are unvaccinated.
Unvaccinated people are 97% more likely to die of COVID than those who are fully vaccinated and boosted, according to new CDC information.
Walensky also presented the data Wednesday at the White House COVID meeting.
The findings are based on information collected in early December.
President BidenJoe BidenGallego on Jan. 6 rioters: ‘F— them’ Psaki: Why is GOP afraid of presidential debates? Biden calls on employers to mandate vaccines despite Supreme Court ruling MORE’s chief medical adviser Anthony FauciAnthony FauciThe Hill’s 12:30 Report: Biden strategizes with Senate Dems Scientists, medical professionals defend Fauci after heated exchanges with Republicans Doctors call out Spotify over ‘false and societally harmful assertions’ on Joe Rogan show MORE said in an interview that it is not clear yet if people will need yearly COVID-19 boosters, even as the chief executives of several drugmakers have indicated a fourth vaccine dose may be necessary.
“We’ve only recently boosted people. We will find out if the booster gives you a degree of durability of protection and actually should be the standard regimen of three doses of an mRNA and two doses of J&J,” Fauci said in an interview with NBC News published on Thursday.
“Or — and it’s a big ‘or’ right now — will we need to boost people every year or so?” he continued.
Fauci said that he while it was a good thing that the original ancestral strain of COVID-19 was used in the development of the COVID-19 vaccine — because “we were fortunate that even though [strains] were different, they were not so different that the vaccine didn’t cover it well” — omicron has muddled the situation.
“We were doing quite well with a primary vaccination and a boost with delta. Then all of a sudden omicron came along,” Fauci told the network. “And if you look at the efficacy against the delta versus omicron, it went down to around 30 percent.”
The leading infectious diseases expert said that he wants a vaccine that would ideally be effective against all kinds of COVID-19 variants.
Fauci’s remarks come as chief executives from drugmakers like Pfizer and Moderna have suggested that people may need a fourth dose of the COVID-19 vaccine amid concerns about the omicron variant and waning booster efficacy.
“I think we will need the fourth dose,” Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla told CNBC last month.
“With omicron, we need to wait and see because we have very little information. We may need it faster,” than a previous timeline of 12 months, which Bourla had considered to have a fourth dose administered after an individual’s initial booster, the CEO said.
NY COVID-19 hospitalizations have now soared to late February highs, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Monday; daily positive cases were down but that’s likely because of reduced testing over the holiday weekend
Concerns around pediatric COVID hospitalizations are growing, especially in the city; admissions among NYC kids are up 395% since the week of Dec. 5 vs. a 163% increase statewide
The omicron variant is linked to milder COVID cases, which officials say is enough reason to avert panic; still, the surging infections are decimating workforces across all industries in NY and nationwide
New York state COVID hospitalizations ballooned over the Christmas holiday, topping 5,500 for the first time since late February, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Monday, and while daily cases were considerably lower than the record-shattering highs of the last 10 days, a more accurate picture on that front is expected in a day.
As of Monday, statewide hospitalizations stand at 5,526, the highest total since February 23 and a near 190% increase since Nov. 1 alone. That’s still well short of the 7,000 New Yorkers who were hospitalized with COVID this time last year, and the sheer volume of omicron infections will likely translate to some more severe cases by default, especially among the unvaccinated, Hochul has said.
More troubling than the numbers themselves is the population among whom there has been a “striking increase” in admissions as of late: Children.
Pediatric hospitalizations are becoming an increasing point of concern as well, according to data Hochul shared Tuesday. COVID admissions for kids are now up to 184 statewide, 109 of them in New York City. Two weeks ago, there were 70 total.
Dr. Mary T. Bassett, the state health commissioner who suffered a breakthrough COVID case last week but was masked, 6 feet from the governor in Monday’s briefing, said pediatric COVID hospitalizations have doubled in the last three weeks. In New York City, they’ve quintupled in that time span, she said.
Pediatric hospitalizations (patients age 0 to 18)
Among the 5-to-11-year-olds in the hospitalized group, none had been vaccinated, Bassett said. About a quarter of older kids recently hospitalized had been vaccinated, she said. Both vaccination rates are well below the averages in the New York population overall, which officials again say shows the power of vaccines to prevent severe COVID-related disease in all age groups, including the youngest.
“Many people continue to think that children do not become infected with COVID. This is not true. Children become infected with COVID and some will become hospitalized. The vaccination coverage remains too low,” Bassett said. “We need to get child vaccinations up, particularly in the 5-to-11-year-old age group.”
As of the latest CDC data, New York kids in that age group, which only became eligible for vaccination on Nov. 3, have a 16.4% complete inoculation rate. About 27% have at least one dose. The numbers are significantly higher for kids aged 12 to 17 (66% and 75.1%, respectively), but still not as high as officials would like.
Bassett and Hochul said they were sharing the pediatric hospitalization data in blunt view Monday in hopes it would motivate parents to use the school holiday break this week to get their kids the first dose if they haven’t yet or move on to the second dose if the requisite three-week window has elapsed.
“Please do this for them,” Hochul urged parents. “Using this time to get this done is really smart.”
On the overall high — and still increasing — hospitalization count, Hochul said New Yorkers can take some comfort that the numbers aren’t where they were in April 2020 or even where they were this past January. But they are soaring upward.
“That is something we’re very cognizant of and have been anticipating and preparing for,” Hochul said.
Among actions already undertaken as part of its winter surge plan, the state has paused non-essential elective procedures in hospitals with limited bed capacity (10% or less), expanded the eligible healthcare workforce, deployed the National Guard to nursing homes and reallocated hospital staff to high-need areas. Roughly 25 hospitals are on that “paused” list of now, though the number vacillates.
Of the overall winter surge plan, Hochul said, “it’s been working right now,” leaving open the question of whether it will be sufficient to sustain the state throughout.
Daily positive cases in New York topped out around 26,000 a day ago, Hochul said Monday, though she essentially dismissed that number as vastly underestimated given reduced testing over the weekend. She expects the daily count to rise by up to 20,000 or more by the time Tuesday’s data comes in — and says that’s no surprise.
“I have to acknowledge, the numbers are continuing to climb. This has not been a surprise to us, particularly since we started taking precautions, warning about the winter surge since early October … and also knowing full well this could be a very vulnerable time given how quickly this mutation, omicron, transmits,” Hochul said.
While the true number of COVID-positive New Yorkers on any given day is unclear due to the at-home testing surge, omicron has clearly asserted itself as the most infectious variant to date. Testing demand has grown so intense people are literally climbing over one another, hands outstretched, in a bid to land free at-home kits.
Hochul on Monday repeated the same mantra she has in every COVID briefing she has done over the last month as numbers have spiked, saying, “This is not March of 2020. We have tools at our disposal. The question is how we’re deploying them.”
New York, like many states, has seen hours-long lines for COVID testing amid soaring national demand. Hochul says the state sent 600,000 tests to New York City at the end of last week and is working to bring more direct resources. She said Monday the state had ordered 37 million testing kits and was awaiting full delivery.
Up to 3.5 million COVID tests due to arrive in the state have been pre-allocated to schools, 2 million of them to New York City, the nation’s largest public district.
“We want to make sure schools stay open. Most cases are not being transmitted in schools. We want them vaccinated, we want them boosted. But we understand it’s not a good option to say children are going to be returning home again,” Hochul said — though for the first time since she was sworn in said, “subject to change.”
Five more testing sites will open this week, one in each borough. The state has also launched 37 new pop-ups and plans 17 more in New York City. Another 13 test sites launch across the state Wednesday. Appointments opened for advance scheduling on Monday, though most slots for this week appeared gone by 10 a.m.
President Joe Biden has pledged federal mega-sites to open soon across the U.S., including in the hard-hit New York area, though it’s not clear exactly when those will open. It’s also unclear where they will be located.
Meanwhile, millions are preparing to travel home after the Christmas holiday is over — although cancellations during the busiest travel season are sure to complicate matters. Many of the major airlines have confirmed an increase in COVID sick calls in recent days, forcing the cancellations of more than 1,000 flights over the holiday weekend. New York-area airports have seen hundreds of cancellations and delays.
In response to the rapidly shifting terrain and current dominant variant, Hochul on Friday announced modifications to New York’s return-to-work COVID policies for essential workers by shortening the period of required isolation to five days.
That shortened window applies to essential workers who are both fully vaccinated and asymptomatic as well as to fully vaccinated workers who had mild symptoms that resolved and no fever for 72 hours without fever-reducing medication, Hochul said. They also have to wear masks upon return. Testing is not required.
See the state’s complete updated return-to-work guidance for essential personnel here, as well as who is defined as essential personnel.
The tweak incorporates the latest guidance from the CDC, which shortened its recommended isolation window for healthcare workers a day ago, and the milder infections with omicron, which are knocking out huge chunks of workforces just because of high positivity rates alone. Many such positive workers don’t show symptoms or show mild symptoms and do not need medical treatment to recover.
Hospital managers, including the head of the largest public health care system in the U.S., Dr. Mitchell Katz of NYC Health + Hospitals, say they’re wary about staffing shortages for similar reasons — and far more than they’re worried about an influx of people seriously sick with omicron. That’s what Hochul is trying to accommodate.
“Positive cases don’t necessarily mean that you are too sick and require hospitalization. We just have to again, manage,” Hochul recently said. “This is not delta. This is not the first variant. This is omicron which thus far, and again I have to qualify this, thus far, has demonstrated as we’ve watched around the globe and other places where it hit first, that it’s not as severe in its impact.”
Still, hospitalizations, especially among the unvaccinated, are continuing to rise, Hochul noted earlier in her briefing. The state recorded another 132 combined COVID fatalities on Saturday and Sunday, numbers mercifully well below the roughly 800 New Yorkers who were dying a day at the pandemic’s peak in 2020.
Both metrics are to be monitored closely, Hochul said.
Ultimately, officials say vaccinations will quell the increases in hospitalizations and deaths associated with the omicron wave — and those metrics are a much greater concern for them than infections alone. That’s why they’re urging calm at this time — and pushing vaccinations and COVID boosters for those who have to get them.
Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says with the available tools to help prevent and fight COVID-19, “there really is no need to panic.”
The state has administered 3.2 million vaccine doses since Dec. 1 alone, but lagging rates between full vaccination and first doses for adults especially (82.6% vs. 95%) are becoming a point of concern, the governor said.
“We should be catching up with that, so I’m urging everybody, if you had the one dose, be aware you’re on a process. You’re not there yet. You’re not protected, particularly against omicron, which is just breaking through,” Hochul said.
New York City’s new vaccine mandate, which expanded to the whole private sector on Monday, could be an interesting case study on that front. Mayor Bill de Blasio, Hochul and others have long said that if someone gets a first vaccine dose, the belief is that the individual will go back to get a second dose.
Now, private employers across from the five boroughs must affirm proof of at least one vaccine dose for each employee — and get a second-dose scheduling commitment within 45 days of the first. Time will tell how that element plays out – and de Blasio will be well out of his mayoral office before any trends there emerge.
NYC’s strictest-in-nation vaccine mandate takes effect as omicron surge intensifies. Here’s what you need to know. NBC New York’s Gaby Acevedo reports.
NYC is offering $100 to people who get boosters at city-run sites between now and New Year’s Eve in a bid to slow omicron’s spread; state hospitalizations are now at their highest total since April 7
Breakthrough infections are jolting the city’s pandemic rebound to its core, but de Blasio says NYC will not shut down again; he’s hoping the latest incentive encourages more people to get booster protection
Both Moderna and Pfizer have released data showing their booster doses provide significant increases in protection against omicron compared with the general two-dose regimen for full vaccination
New York City is digging back into its pockets as it scrambles to curb the record-setting omicron tide, offering $100 cash to anyone who gets a COVID-19 booster at a city-run vaccine site between now and New Year’s Eve, the mayor said Tuesday.
Calling the program “by far the biggest booster incentive program in the United States of America,” Bill de Blasio acknowledged the limited-time opportunity but said it was coming at exactly the right time for the pandemic-weary city.
“This will be by far the biggest booster incentive program in the United States of America and I want to see New Yorkers respond,” he said. “This is the moment. Get those booster shots. Help make your family safer, help make this whole city safer.”
New Yorkers can also go to SOMOS sites partnering with the city and get the $100 incentive. There are more than 1,000 options — and home booster options as well. Find the booster site closest to you or the best option for your needs here.
De Blasio, in his waning days in office, made the announcement during his third COVID briefing in three days as he seeks to boost protection for the one-time pandemic epicenter, which is now in the throes of another intense viral wave.
New York City and New Jersey Vaccine Providers
Click on each provider to find more information on scheduling appointments for the COVID-19 Vaccine.
The Democrat warned New Yorkers that his health team expects the current surge to intensify in short order — contributing to an unprecedented increase in viral spread — but this latest wave is only expected to last a few weeks. Here’s hoping.
The city’s rolling case weekly average is up nearly 123% over the averages for the prior four weeks, Tuesday’s data shows. Hospitalizations are up 12% by the same parameters, but the vast majority of those cases are people who aren’t vaccinated.
“Everyone who has not been vaccinated, it’s time. Everyone who has not gotten that booster, it’s time. This city is ready to make sure everyone gets that booster and that’s the way we move through these challenging few weeks,” de Blasio said Tuesday. “No more shutdowns. We’ve been through them, they were devasting, we can’t go through it again. We need to all work together these next few weeks.”
While much is still to learn about omicron — and what could come next — de Blasio has said research shows it is most certainly more transmissible than any previous strain and likely more vaccine-resistant.
We also know COVID vaccines work against the new variant, he says, and data from Moderna and Pfizer show boosters make the protection even more effective.
That appears most true when it comes to preventing severe illness from omicron. Mounting evidence shows two vaccine doses have plunging efficacy against the newest variant of concern. Boosters provide even more protection, Pfizer and Moderna have said their data shows. And any doses of the three main COVID vaccines provide more protection than no doses at all, the CDC director has said.
Omicron has already usurped the delta variant as the most dominant COVID strain in the United States, accounting for nearly three-quarters of all new cases last week, officials say. There was nearly a six-fold increase in omicron’s share of new U.S. infections in just a week, according to the CDC.
New York City data only has omicron representing 1% of all genetically sequenced cases, but so few positive samples are tested like that (3.6% statewide) that the actual count is likely far higher, officials say. The positivity rates the five boroughs have experienced so far this month reflect the heightened contagiousness of omicron, which is said to replicate up to 70 times faster in airways than delta.
As New York City’s top doctor recently said, “Omicron has proven to be the fastest, fittest and most formidable COVID-19 variant due to its ability to evade the immune system, meaning that those who’ve already had COVID and those who are vaccinated are more likely to be infected with omicron compared to past variants.”
While early data has shown this variant may be more vaccine-resistant than earlier COVID strains, accounting in part for rising rates of breakthrough infections, all existing vaccines provide more protection against the variant than no vaccine — and booster shots multiply that protection considerably, the drugmakers have said.
Moderna says its COVID-19 booster does appear to provide protection against the omicron variant.
Moderna was the latest to supply evidence on that front Monday regarding its COVID vaccine booster and omicron. Pfizer has said its booster is highly effective while AstraZeneca reported last week its antibody cocktail, Evusheld, retained effectiveness against omicron. More analyses on that treatment are expected soon.
Meanwhile, statewide COVID rates are at nearly year-long highs. New York did not set a new daily case record Tuesday, ending its four-day streak.
Virus hospitalizations, though, jumped by roughly 8% overnight to 4,328, marking the highest total since April 7 as Gov. Kathy Hochul added another 308 admissions to the count Tuesday. Nearly 800 of those patients are in intensive care.
The vast majority of the state’s COVID hospitalizations are among the unvaccinated. While about 1% of all New York residents have tested positive in the last 10 days, Hochul and others continue to stress COVID vaccinations and boosters remain highly effective and preventing severe illness and death linked to the disease.
“Cases are rising due to the winter surge, but this is not March 2020 – we knew this was coming and New York is taking action to make vaccines, boosters, and testing more widely available,” Hochul said in a statement Tuesday. “We know what works – get vaccinated, get the booster, mask up, and exercise caution in indoor public spaces. Now is the time for all of us to do our part and help protect those more vulnerable to make sure we all get through this holiday season safely.”
The fate of the annual New Year’s Eve celebration in Times Square will be decided this week. Meanwhile, private school teachers have run out of time to get vaccinated. NBC New York’s Tracie Strahan and Romney Smith report.
The omicron variant is fueling a surge that has set single-day pandemic records for statewide cases four days in a row; COVID hospitalizations are the highest they’ve been since mid-April
Given high vaccination rates for the densest parts of NY, especially the city, and increases in booster doses, amid other protective tools, Gov. Kathy Hochul says the state will be able to ride out this wave
Most importantly, the Democrat says she doesn’t anticipate the need for another shutdown. On schools, she stressed, “We are keeping our schools open. Let me repeat that: We are keeping our schools open”
New York state’s vaccinated health commissioner tested positive for COVID-19 via a rapid test, marking yet another breakthrough case as the Big Apple battles a record-breaking viral surge, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Monday as she acknowledged the open seat next to her. Dr. Mary T. Bassett has also gotten her booster, she added.
News of the positive test for the state’s leading health official came the same day the Empire State broke its own single-day pandemic case record for a fourth straight day, with Hochul reporting nearly 23,400 new cases overnight. The lion’s share of those infections come from New York City, where over 15,000 people tested positive, up nearly 50% since Friday.
The strain of coronavirus that infected Bassett wasn’t known and would take more extensive testing to determine if it were omicron, as all isolation of variants requires.
The unprecedented infectiousness of the new variant, and its apparent ability to evade the immune system, has stoked anxiety across the state and nation, but officials are quick to point out it doesn’t appear to cause more severe disease — at least for those who are fully vaccinated and received a booster like Bassett, for whom Hochul described no severe symptoms as a result of her infection.
The Democrat insisted fully vaccinated and boosted New Yorkers can safely gather with other fully vaccinated and boosted loved ones this holiday season and take solace in the expectation that those key protections, along with enhanced mask protocol in crowds at least through the season, will spare them any severe COVID illness this winter. She also insisted once again Monday that these tools, which were not widely available this time last year, will spare the state another shutdown.
Moderna says its COVID-19 booster does appear to provide protection against the omicron variant.
“It’s not March of 2020. It’s not even December of 2020. Just to keep things in perspective, it is milder than delta,” Hochul said of omicron. “We are avoiding a government shutdown because we now have the tools available to all of us — vaccinations, booster shots, masks — particularly for the variant we’re dealing with.”
“We are keeping our schools open,” Hochul emphasized. “Let me repeat that: We are keeping schools open.”
For the nearly 20% of New York adults who aren’t yet fully vaccinated, omicron — and the still pervasive delta variant, the story could be different. Hochul has been vocal about her mounting frustration with that group in recent weeks.
She has called out certain parts of the state with particularly low rates, like the Southern Tier, North Country and Mohawk Valley, for contributing to the furious spread of a pandemic-causing virus that feeds off its ability to mutate.
Only about two-thirds of adult residents in those regions are fully vaccinated, the latest state data show. That compares with about 83% of New York City adults and 86% of those on Long Island. The number of cases per 100,000 residents over a seven-day rolling period hits the denser areas harder, with the city and Long Island reporting 92.9 and 102.8 new cases per 100,000 residents by that metric.
The Southern Tier is the most densely populated of the three lowest vaccinated regions in New York state and has the highest new cases per 100,000 residents rate (110.4) of all 10 regions. New York City has roughly six times the population of the Southern Tier and a lower hospitalization per 100,000 residents rate (11.46) over the last seven days than any other region in the state.
Long Island is third-lowest (19.67), with another highly vaccinated region, Mid-Hudson, sandwiched in between. These numbers are further evidence, officials say, of the power of existing vaccines to prevent severe COVID-linked illness and death, whatever the variant linked to the increases in infections.
At least 192 cases of omicron have now been confirmed in New York state, about a fifth of them in New York City, though experts believe that 192 number is significantly underreported. The Empire State only conducts the genetic sequencing necessary to isolate variants on 3.6% of positive COVID samples, well lower than other hotspots like California (6.07%) but higher than New Jersey.
While the exact number of new omicron cases across the state can be difficult to determine given those limitations, no county has anywhere close to the number of confirmed cases of the new variant than Tompkins (117), which falls within the Southern Tier region. It’s also home to Ithaca and Cornell University, where the campus COVID surge forced a nearly full remote end to this latest semester.
Every single one of the 115 student samples that were tested for variants came back as omicron, the university said late Friday.
Data on the genetic sequencing rates by New York county for positive COVID samples by New York county does not appear available, so it’s unclear if Tompkins County is linked to a much higher omicron rate because of the testing volume.
While omicron may not be linked to more severe illness, it is causing an unprecedented surge in COVID cases that alone could overwhelm underprepared hospitals, top health officials at all levels of government have said.
In New York, the number of hospitals with bed capacity below 10% has declined since Hochul’s Nov. 22 briefing, from 28 to 32, which she says is encouraging.
“This is really the break point. If you have a surge of individuals needing medical care in a hospital, that’s where things break down,” Hochul said. “This is where our hands-on engagement is really making a difference. This could have been a crisis situation already” given the soaring statewide hospitalizations over the last month.
“We may not hit those peaks again,” the governor added. “We’re not going to throw in the towel here. We will not surrender to pandemic fatigue, as much as we’re getting exhausted from this. We can get through this holiday season.”
Other differentiators the governor plans to deploy in the next few weeks — more hospital staff, at-home tests for school kids. Hochul says she’s adamant that they remain safely open. Starting in January, she plans to send at-home testing kids with children in COVID-affected classrooms as part of that multi-pronged effort.
In addition, Hochul said the state will send and/or make available:
$65 million in aid to counties for “mask or vax” protocol implementation
10 million more free at-home tests, including half of those this month (2 million for school districts, 1 million for county emergency managers, 1.6 million for NYC, 400,000 for state vaccine sites)
3.4 million robocalls reminding vaccinated people to get their boosters
6 million masks to county emergency managers
Hochul says she’s not there yet but she’s frustrated with trying to hammer home the same point to vaccine holdouts and is instead redoubling her focus on vaccinations and boosters through incentive-laden campaigns in an effort to get potentially more amenable parts of the state with lower vaccination rates to boost their paces.
New York City continues to push the same message, even as its triumphant plans for a crowd-filled (fully vaccinated only, of course) New Year’s Eve in Times Square now appear far less definitive than they were just a few weeks ago.
Mayor Bill de Blasio has pledged a decision on that party before Christmas. He warned Monday the omicron surge would likely intensify further — and considerably so — before it abates but says the good news is it is expected to be short-lived.
“We’re going to see a really fast upsurge in cases. We’re going to see a lot of New Yorkers affected by omicron,” the Democrat said, noting the surge is only expected to last a few weeks, based on the information he has received.
“We will get past omicron. We will continue our recovery in this city,” de Blasio, whose mayoral term wraps up Dec. 31. “Vaccination will be the key to all of this and New York City continues to lead the way in this country in terms of huge numbers of people vaccinated and aggressive measures to get even more folks vaccinated.”
The fate of the annual New Year’s Eve celebration in Times Square will be decided this week. Meanwhile, private school teachers have run out of time to get vaccinated. NBC New York’s Tracie Strahan and Romney Smith report.
