What you should know
- Mayor Bill de Blasio noted that New York City should focus its efforts on vaccinating children ages 5 to 11 because details of the Omicron variant are still unknown.
- The daily average number of COVID-19 cases in New York City is 37% higher than the average for the previous weeks, while hospitalizations are beginning to increase. Statewide, COVID hospitalizations stand at 3,489, the highest number since April 21 and a jarring increase of 86% in the last month alone.
- The Omicron variant has now been identified in at least 19 US states and more than 50 countries. Preliminary data on severity has been encouraging, Fauci says, but delta continues to increase the hospitalization rate.
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In accordance with New York City’s most recent vaccination mandate, children under the age of 12 who are eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine will be required to show proof of vaccination to attend Broadway shows and the New Years Eve celebration in Times Square.
Under Broadway’s update to its vaccine policy, theatergoers ages 5 to 11 can enter when they have proof of at least one dose of an FDA or WHO approved vaccine and must be accompanied by an adult who is fully vaccinated. The vaccine series must have been administered at least 14 days prior to presentation.
“As of Sunday, December 5, we exceeded attendance with more than two million viewers and completed more than 2,000 performances. We believe our focus on safety has helped us achieve this milestone,” said Charlotte St. Martin, president of The Broadway League.
Regarding the falling of the glass in Times Square, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Wednesday that a system will be in place and more details will be provided closer to the celebration.
“We will continue to monitor the situation with Ómicron and any new developments and update people as needed,” the mayor said. “We will update the public shortly, but the bottom line is if you want to participate in that amazing gathering, please bring a proof ID and bring your proof of vaccination.”
The vaccine expansion comes as Governor Kathy Hochul is expected to provide updates on the state’s fight against the pandemic on Thursday and concerns about rising hospitalizations and the Omicron variant are mounting.
De Blasio said the city should focus its efforts on younger New Yorkers who recently qualified for the vaccine because a lot is still unknown about Ómicron.
It is not clear how much of the increase in COVID cases could be related to Omicron: delta still accounts for 98% of all positive samples from New York City that are genetically sequenced and that is the variant that increases the rate of severe cases in The USA.
What is concerning is the city’s daily average of COVID cases, which is 37% higher compared to the daily average for the previous four weeks. And the continued hospitalization rate increased on Wednesday after being stable or declining for quite some time.
So far, 20% of children between the ages of 5 and 11 have been vaccinated against the coronavirus and the mayor said that we have to go “much further and much faster.” As of Wednesday, about 82% of young adults ages 12-17 are vaccinated and the number is 89% for older adults.
The race to vaccinate seemed more urgent than ever when Pfizer and its partner BioNTech announced that their two doses of vaccine may not be protective enough to prevent infection against the easily transmissible Omicron variant. However, laboratory tests showed that a booster shot increased the levels of antibodies that fight the virus 25 times, meaning that a booster shot could be crucial.
Only the Pfizer vaccine is approved in the US for children ages 5 to 17. Moderna and Johnson & Johnson have yet to release comparative data on omicron.
The city added another six confirmed cases of Omicron on Wednesday, bringing the total to 13, although both Mayor Bill de Blasio and his Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi believe the number is much higher than reported. .
“Much more important than that number of individual cases is the fact that we expect there to already be a community transmission of Omicron,” Chokshi said. “We are not looking at any significant groups at this time and what this means is that the known Omicron cases are not linked to any particular individual or event, but are consistent with community transmission.”
New York state has confirmed at least six out-of-city cases, with the most recent addition occurring a day ago and involved a 13-year-old boy in Westchester County. The unknowns surrounding this variant combine with the known dangers of delta to fuel urgent vaccine messages from officials leading to the holidays.
The jury is still out on whether Ómicron poses the same serious threat as delta. Preliminary evidence suggests that it is not, but it is believed to be more infectious than previous strains of the coronavirus.
The CDC director said Tuesday that more than 35,000 of the 53,000 reported people who attended the convention at the Javits Center from Nov. 19-21 were contacted and urged to take a COVID-19 test after a Minnesota vaccinated man tested positive for the omicron variant.
“The data from this research will likely provide some of the first looks in this country on the transmissibility of the variant,” said Dr. Rachel Walensky during her briefing.
“At a time when there is a lot of uncertainty with Ómicron, we are in a much better position now than we were last year,” he added, urging people who have not yet been vaccinated to do so. “We have gained knowledge and experience in addressing other variants, such as Delta, and we have much more science, tools and treatment options available.”
There is both molecular evidence and real-world evidence that Omicron is associated with increased infectivity, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday, meaning there will be a rapid increase in cases in addition to the delta threat.
Those increases have been observed in South Africa, where scientists first identified the new variant. “There was almost a vertical peak where, in South Africa, with the increase in new cases, it leaned a lot towards Omicron, strongly suggesting a dominant ability of that variant over others,” Fauci said.
It may take a few more weeks for scientists to get concrete answers on whether Omicron is more dangerous than other COVID variants, he added.
“It is too early to be able to determine the precise severity of the disease, but we have indications that we are getting, and we must remember that they are still anecdotal, but hopefully in the coming weeks we will have a much clearer picture,” Fauci said. “But it seems that with the cases that are seen, we are not seeing a very severe disease profile.”
Even if Ómicron proves to be less severe in terms of illness and death, which appears to be at this early stage, there are several other factors that can affect the lives of New Yorkers, warned Mayor Bill de Blasio while updating his vaccination mandate, the strictest in the country, will affect children aged 5 to 11 and private sector workers from the end of this month.
“What our doctors have said, if you keep adding cases, even if it’s less serious than we feared, you still have a lot of vulnerable older people. You still have a lot of vulnerable people with pre-existing conditions,” the mayor added on CNN.
“You still have hospitals where you have to worry about their capacity. And those are the things that start to push you towards, again, the things we want to avoid, the closures and restrictions,” added de Blasio. “So we know enough about Ómicron at this point to say that it will be a big factor. We are going to get ahead of ourselves.”
Hospitalizations in the city rose nearly 14% continuously as of Wednesday, the first marked increase of its kind, although it will take more time to assess a potential trend. Daily deaths from COVID also increased marginally in the city. Both of these metrics are much more critical barometers for officials than infections.
The data is also concerning at the state level. Statewide, total COVID hospitalizations has risen to 3,489, the highest number since April 21 and a jarring increase of 86% in the last month alone. There has been an increase in ICU patients and deaths are up 50% compared to last week, according to the latest data from the state.
Right now, New York is among the six states that account for most of the increase in occupied hospital beds in the country, according to an NBC News analysis of federal data.
While New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois account for 35% of the population among states with an increase in COVID hospitalizations, they account for 60% of the additional beds, the analysis showed.
The trends are also evident at the national level. Some states are dealing with some of the worst surges since the start of the pandemic, despite high vaccination rates.
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