What you should know
- New COVID infection data released by New York on Thursday shows in the clearest terms yet the widespread receding wave of the Omicron variant.
- Case rates among the vaccinated and unvaccinated have halved since the last weekly report.
- This marks the first time they have been reduced since Ómicron emerged in the state.
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NEW YORK — New COVID infection data released by New York on Thursday shows in the clearest terms yet the widespread reversal of the Omicron variant wave, with case rates among the vaccinated and unvaccinated halved. since the last weekly report, marking the first time they were down since Ómicron emerged in the state.
The latest week of data, covering the week of January 10, shows that 125.5 of every 100,000 fully vaccinated New Yorkers were infected, almost half the rate (243.5) from the previous week. For unvaccinated New Yorkers, the risk more than halved, from 2,009 COVID infections per 100,000 to 996.4 in the latest study period.
Hospitalizations, which lag increases in cases, are now starting to trend down from the peak of Omicron. The drop is slower than the decline in cases: 5.17 per 100,000 fully vaccinated New Yorkers and 72.42 per 100,000 unvaccinated New Yorkers admitted for COVID in the data week of Jan. 10, the latest available.
Still, it’s the first drop in that metric for both groups since the data period ending Nov. 1, when Omicron was probably already making the rounds in New York City and the US, and again shows the unparalleled power of vaccination to prevent serious illness and COVID-related deaths, as a Manhattan ER doctor said a day ago.
Unvaccinated New Yorkers are still at least 14 times more likely to be hospitalized for COVID than fully vaccinated New Yorkers (last week’s differential was about 13 times, perhaps another indication of the rollback of the evasive variant of the vaccine).
Additionally, they are about eight times more likely to become infected. Omicron, known for its increased ability to infect vaccinated people, closed the gap on that metric but the risk remains markedly for people who are not immunized.
The state’s latest vaccine effectiveness data supports the overall trends in core viral rates: daily cases are down sharply, hospitalizations overall are down. Deaths, the latest trailing indicator, remain at their recent high.
According to Governor Kathy Hochul’s most recent update, the seven-day moving average of cases is down 43.6% from the previous moving average, while new cases per 100,000 residents are declining in each of the 10 regions of the condition.
New York City, which regularly saw record daily cases earlier this month, now has the lowest mobile positivity rate of the 10 regions (12.7%), followed by the other two regions with the highest vaccination rate of Mid-Hudson (14.07%) and Long Island (16.68%).
Meanwhile, new hospital admissions statewide are down 18.4% from the previous seven days, Hochul’s office said.
Clear trend lines may indicate that the mask or vaccination order across New York State may soon be lifted for businesses. Hochul was asked last week, when he confirmed the downward trends, if he planned to let the order expire on its set expiration date of February 2. She said that she wanted a little more time before making a decision.
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