New York increases the alert level for coronavirus and evaluates returning to restrictions

WASHINGTON — After more than two years, the coronavirus pandemic has long receded into the background of the list of concerns on the minds of most Americans, and life in much of the country has returned to almost normalcy. full. People no longer have to wear a mask to fly or travel by train, and in Washington you no longer even need to present a vaccination card to go to a bar or a restaurant. But in New York, the capital of the world, the alert level was raised and the mayor, Eric Adams, said he does not yet know if he will re-implement some precautions, such as the use of masks..

One of the subvariants of omicron, BA.2, has caused an increase in cases on the east coast of the country, in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Jersey, and New York. In the Big Apple, the alert level, which was modified in March, rose today to “yellow” when the average number of cases exceeded the rate of 200 infections per 100,000 inhabitants in the five neighborhoods of the city.

In practice, what this means for New Yorkers is that they should be even more cautious than in recent weeks. If you are at increased risk of serious illness due to age, underlying health conditions or unvaccinated, consider additional precautions, such as avoiding crowded indoor gatherings,” Health Commissioner Ashwin Vasan said in a statement. .

The new alert level does not impose restrictions, but it does trigger “recommendations” for New Yorkers like the use of masks in closed public places in which there is no certainty if people are vaccinated or not. The level also triggers a recommendation for the city government: “consider” requiring the use of masks in high-risk places where there are crowds and cannot be maintained, including schools or nurseries. That is the decision that must be made by Mayor Adams, who last month was infected, and has sought to focus his administration on the recovery of the city.

Adams’s dilemma offers a glimpse into the new reality that many authorities in the country must deal with. Anthony Fauci, the White House’s top adviser and the most influential expert on habits over the past two years, has said that The United States has already left behind the pandemic phase of the coronavirusindicating that Covid-19 will become just another respiratory disease. Inflation, the economy, gas prices, problems in the leadership of the country, the war in Ukraine and tensions with Russia and immigration are all concerns that now appear above the coronavirus. in the minds of Americans when marking the most important problems, according to Gallup.