An individual waits in a queue for a coronavirus illness (COVID-19) take a look at in Times Square because the Omicron coronavirus variant continues to unfold in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., December 19, 2021.
Andrew Kelly | Reuters
Mayor Bill de Blasio on Monday stated New York City is experiencing a fast surge of omicron infections, but he expects the wave to peak in a matter of weeks.
“It’s going to be a very difficult few weeks. But the excellent news relies on what our healthcare management understands, at this second, we’re speaking about a matter of weeks,” De Blasio informed the general public throughout a Covid replace on Monday.
Average day by day case counts in New York City greater than doubled over the week ending Friday Dec. 17, in accordance to the most recent information out there on the the town’s health department website. New York is reporting a seven-day common of greater than 7,200 instances per day, up from about 3,200 the week prior, a 127% enhance.
However, de Blasio stated folks contaminated with omicron in New York are experiencing gentle signs thus far, although he famous there stay many unanswered questions and scientists are nonetheless doing analysis to decide how sick folks can turn into after contracting the variant.
“We’re going to see a actually quick upsurge in instances, we’re going to see a lot of New Yorkers affected by omicron,” De Blasio stated. “So far, thank God based mostly on every part we have seen, the instances are extra gentle than what we have skilled beforehand.”
However, epidemiologists and infectious illness consultants have cautioned that even when omicron proves extra gentle than the predominant delta variant, it may nonetheless trigger a main spike in hospitalizations and deaths just because it spreads so quick, placing pressure on some health-care methods.
De Blasio emphasised the significance of vaccination to defend in opposition to omicron. The mayor stated his vaccine mandate for personal companies is vital to avoiding the shutdowns that devastated New York City’s financial system in 2020.
“We’ve received to defeat Omicron, we received to keep away from shutdowns, we received to keep away from restrictions, we received to hold transferring ahead — vaccination is the important thing,” De Blasio stated. Nearly 80% of New York City residents have obtained no less than one dose of a vaccine, whereas 71% of the inhabitants is absolutely vaccinated.
De Blasio stated his administration is working with the White House and the non-public sector to handle a scarcity of at-home testing kits at pharmacies. The mayor stated the town may also open 23 further testing websites this week for a whole of 112 city-run areas throughout all 5 boroughs.
“We’re discovering the provides have gotten a problem as a result of all around the nation testing goes up all of a sudden and we’re seeing a provide drawback that wants to be addressed,” De Blasio stated.
Officials with the World Health Organization have stated omicron is extra contagious than any earlier variant of Covid-19. Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, stated final week’s estimates put omicron at 13% of all instances in New York and New Jersey. Omicron accounted for about 3% of U.S. Covid instances nationwide, in accordance to the CDC.
Omicron has considerably weakened the facility of two-dose vaccines to keep off an infection, but a booster shot considerably will increase safety in opposition to the variant. A 3rd shot of Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccine offers 70% safety in opposition to symptomatic illness, in accordance to a real-world research from the U.Ok. Health Security Agency.
The unique two-dose vaccination collection, however, presents solely 33% safety in opposition to an infection, but nonetheless offers 70% safety in opposition to hospitalization, in accordance to real-world information from South Africa’s largest well being insurer, Discovery Health.