On the last day of 2021, the country’s first calendar year fully marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, New York posted a latest record of COVID cases for the third day in a row.
The governor’s final update for the year included a record 76,555 new positives as the Omicron surge pushes the state’s hospitals to the limit. In her final 2021 speech, Governor Kathy Hochul detailed a renewed plan for the winter wave with five key goals to help overwhelmed hospitals and protect the most vulnerable.
Hochul’s Plan 2.0 begins with education. In addition to the millions of tests that are already available and that will be shipped to schools across the state, another 6 million will be in New York on Monday, bringing the total number of test kits for schools to more than 11 million. State officials hope the kits will be distributed regularly to meet demand and keep students in the classroom if it is safe to do so.
Booster shots will also be required for students attending the state’s universities, Hochlu announced. SUNY and CUNY students who meet the criteria for the booster shot must receive an additional dose of COVID-19 vaccine when they return to campus, beginning January 15.
Meanwhile, hospitalizations continue to rise. As recently as the second week of December, Governor Kathy Hochul assured New Yorkers that “this is not March 2020 or even January 2021.” The president cites admissions totals well below January’s peaks of about 9,300.
COVID hospitalizations statewide have more than doubled since then and now total 7,919, with Hochul adding another 546 to the growing tally on Friday.
For the governor, New York has more tools at her disposal than in January 2021 or December 2020, and certainly one more arsenal than at the beginning of the pandemic. It’s rolling them out accordingly, Hochul says, as the state faces a “wildly unpredictable” variant that has astonished scientists and health experts alike with its rapid rate of spread and penchant for innovative infections.
Advancement hospitalizations are much rarer, state data shows, a testament to the continuing ability of vaccines to prevent serious COVID-related illness and death, authorities say. That’s the rationale New York officials believe hospitals will be able to weather the Omicron surge, which isn’t expected to peak for a month.
When asked early Thursday in a television appearance on CNN if she thought the state would have to rely on the assistance of the National Guard to cover the staff shortage in hospitals, the commissioner of the New York Department of Health, the Dr. Mary T. Bassett, acknowledged the rising hospitalization rates and said the state is closely monitoring them.
He also said that New York is in regular communication with those troops, but that hospital bed capacity across the state is stable for now. The number of hospitals that have had to pause elective procedures to preserve bed capacity has decreased since November.
“Let’s stay focused on vaccinating people, let’s remember to wear masks, avoid crowds when we can, be careful during the upcoming Christmas season about how we plan our time with the most vulnerable people in our group, and make sure meetings remain safe. for them, ”said Basset, who suffered a COVID infection earlier this month.
The health commissioner says she hopes recently adopted state guidelines on returning to work for essential personnel who are fully vaccinated and asymptomatic or whose symptoms resolve without medication will help fill in the gaps.
“We know that people who are vaccinated shed less virus than people who are not. There are a lot of reasons to get vaccinated, but probably the most important is that people who are vaccinated are less sick,” Bassett said.
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