CDC Updates COVID Risk Map and BA.5 for New York – NBC New York (47)

What you should know

• COVID cases are on the rise across the United States once again, driven in large part by highly contagious and more vaccine-resistant Omicron subvariants such as BA.5. That strain is also linked to an increased risk of reinfection.
• The number of US counties the CDC says are at high risk for the spread of COVID increased by 71% over the last week, from 667 to 1,143. That includes all of NYC, Long Island and Westchester, Putnam and Rockland.
• No new mask mandates have been implemented locally, but health officials in New York City say everyone should wear masks in public places, regardless of vaccination status, with rates of spread as high as they are now.

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NEW YORK – The number of U.S. counties in the CDC’s high-risk category for the spread of COVID soared 71% in the last week alone, with 1,143 now meeting the thresholds for that top threat designation.

The latest figures mark a more than triple increase in the last month, a clear reversal of progress as the so-called “worst version” of Omicron further strengthens its position in the United States.

What a difference a month makes. However, unlike the last big change from COVID, this change is going in the wrong direction.

Only a quarter of the nation’s counties had a low COVID spread risk rating as of Friday. In the CDC’s June 17 update, 60% were at low risk, including all five New York City boroughs. The latest map from the federal health agency reflects a transition that health officials have been warning about for a few weeks and that New Yorkers have noted, gritting their teeth, as they prepare again.

Transmission rates in the five boroughs are up 33% in the last week alone, 45% on Staten Island. No corresponding increase in serious illness has accompanied this wave, fueled by the Omicron BA.5 subvariant, which is why New York City is reevaluating its COVID alert system. But BA.5 has been shown to be more likely to reinfect and evade vaccine protection, as well as being more transmissible, prompting new anxiety across the country and new pleas for COVID precautions.

Even Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, says it’s smart to wear a mask in New York City right now. The most recent state data shows that the five boroughs have a rolling rate of new cases of 49.9 new daily cases per 100,000 residents. The last time that happened was on January 31, 2022.

Where else in New York is mask wearing recommended? According to the CDC benchmarking system, a high-risk designation means that indoor face coverings are recommended for all people, regardless of vaccination status. Westchester and Nassau counties were in the high-risk category last week and remained there in Friday’s update. They were joined by Putnam, Rockland and Suffolk counties, the latter of which was removed from the high-risk section two weeks ago only to land back in it on Friday.

New York City, where BA.5 accounts for at least 57% of COVID cases and likely much more, and Long Island, which has the second-highest mobile new case rate right now behind the city, also The 10 regions of the state have the highest reinfection rates in the world. However, the hierarchy is reversed, with Long Island’s rate of reinfections of 7.3 per 100,000 residents surpassing New York City’s rate of 5.9. However, that could change when the next weekly data set arrives.

In neighboring New Jersey, the latest wave is also getting worse. All but four Garden State counties — Cumberland, Salem, Hunterdon and Mercer — are now considered high-risk by the CDC. Two weeks ago it was the opposite. Only four of the state’s 21 counties were considered high-risk in the early July update.

Connecticut held on. The western part of the state – Fairfield, Litchfield, New Haven and Middlesex counties – are still listed as medium risk for the spread of COVID by the CDC, while the four eastern counties are at low risk in Friday’s federal update. .

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE BA.5 VARIANT

The COVID BA.5 variant, a descendant of Omicron that evidence indicates is more transmissible than earlier strains, also appears to be at least four times more resistant to vaccines, according to a new Columbia University study published this week. .

BA.5, which accounted for more than 40% of all New York State COVID-positive samples sequenced for variants in the latest two-week data set, and BA.4, were at least 4.2 times more vaccine evasive than its predecessor, according to Columbia research.

He notes that the BA.2.12.1 subvariant, which drove the increase in cases and hospitalizations in May that sent 87% of all New York State counties into the CDC’s COVID high-risk territory, turned out to be only 1.8 times more resistant. And only one therapeutic antibody licensed for clinical use retained full potency against those strains, the study says.

Reinfection rates across New York have supported the research findings in recent times. Statewide COVID-advancement infections and hospitalizations have also increased, as the Columbia research suggests, with the first in each of the last three weeks and the second in the last four. That time frame reflects the increase in BA.4./BA.5.

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