
New York hit a record of new coronavirus cases Friday as the omicron variant fueled a wave of infections, triggering long lines for testing, Broadway show cancellations and worry that the state could spell a sign of what’s to come elsewhere.
The 21,027 reported cases were the highest daily count during the pandemic, according to data analyzed by The Washington Post, although testing was less widely available in the early days. New York City officials reported 5,263 new cases Saturday, up 15% from a day earlier.
“Everybody is pretty shaken up,” said Zeba Warsi, a student at Columbia University who was trying to get tested Saturday after coming down with covid-19 symptoms following exposure to someone who tested positive. “We didn’t see it coming.”
New York was the first center of the pandemic in the United States, and the latest uptick for some brought back memories of March 2020, though hospitalizations and deaths remain far below what they were at previous peaks. Already, though, the surge is upending the cautious return to normality some New Yorkers had begun to embrace.
The famed Rockettes dance troupe had just returned to the stage this year after the 2020 shutdown. But the company, which typically holds multiple performances a day in December, canceled the four shows scheduled for Friday, citing breakthrough covid-19 cases in the production. The troupe later announced it was calling off the remaining “Christmas Spectacular” shows because of “increasing challenges from the pandemic.”
A number of restaurants and theaters in New York City that rely on big December sales also temporarily closed. Broadway shows, including the blockbuster “Hamilton” and “Tina,” about the life of Tina Turner, canceled performances this week. On a smaller scale, friends and families are canceling small gatherings.
“This has been a little bit of a rude awakening,” said Alexandra Brodsky, a lawyer who lives in Brooklyn and nixed her first post-pandemic vacation after testing positive.
Nonetheless, the latest wave of infections is much different than early 2020′s surge, given the arsenal of tools to battle the virus, including vaccines and boosters, experts say.
“We were petrified last year in March,” recalled Mangala Narasimhan, the director of critical care services at Northwell Health, which has 22 hospitals across the state. “We didn’t know if the N95s were going to work. We didn’t even know where to put the patients we had. We had no space.”
Now, Northwell, which has about 400 covid-positive patients in its hospitals, or about half of the admissions at last year’s peak, has therapeutics such as monoclonal antibodies. Patients who are vaccinated are also staying for shorter periods, Narasimhan said. The hospital system, which has not paused its elective surgeries, is encouraging people with health issues unrelated to the virus to get medical help if they need it.
“It’s less scary,” Narasimhan said. “It’s just annoying we’re still dealing with this and annoying that people won’t do the right things so we’re not in this situation.”
Throughout the state, infections and hospitalizations are climbing at a higher rate among the unvaccinated compared to those who are immunized, according to New York Department of Health data as of the end of November. That was also the case at Northwell, where Narasimhan said the hospital system’s covid patients were predominantly from areas with lower vaccination rates such as Staten Island.
The rising coronavirus numbers are a reminder “that the pandemic is not over yet,” said New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, D, who this week reinstated a requirement for masks indoors. However, she added, the state, which has fully vaccinated over 70% of its residents, was better placed than it was 21 months ago.
“We have the tools to fight this virus,” she said.
The latest variant has only added to a winter surge in New York City in which the delta variant had been driving up cases after some summer respite.
Celine Gounder, a New York epidemiologist and infectious-diseases specialist who also advised Biden’s transition team, said breakthrough infections will continue to happen but that vaccines are still doing their job to make most cases less severe.
“If all you have is basically a common cold with covid because you’re vaccinated and boosted, that’s a win,” Gounder said.
People who are vaccinated and boosted can still do their part to mitigate transmission, especially in the omicron-fueled wave, she said, adding that New Yorkers should continue to wear masks, gather in well-ventilated spaces and get tested before spending time with friends and family this holiday season.
There were mounting signs in much of the United States and elsewhere that omicron is on the rise. In countries with community transmission, the new variant was spreading faster than delta, with infection numbers doubling in 1.5 to 3 days, the World Health Organization said Saturday. Omicron is spreading rapidly in countries with high levels of population immunity, but it remains unclear whether it evades immunity, is more transmissible, or both, the health agency said, with clinical severity and vaccine efficacy also not yet known.
Warsi, a journalist who reported on the pandemic from India before arriving in New York City in the fall to attend Columbia, said she went out to dinner with a small group of friends Tuesday. They were all vaccinated, she said, and because it was cold, they ate indoors.
She herself is not yet eligible for the booster; in India, she said, officials increased the amount of time between the first two doses, meaning she did not get her second shot until the fall. A few days after the dinner, she came down with a fever and sore throat.
On Saturday, she was weighing which testing facility might offer the shortest wait time. A friend, she said, waited over two hours outside to get tested. Local pharmacies were out of at-home kits. And she gave up on calling the city’s covid-19 hotline after being placed on hold for 36 minutes.
“The symptoms are pretty mild,” Warsi said. “But it’s the anxiety of not being able to get access to health care in a city like New York.”
(c) 2021, The Washington Post · Ellen Francis, Meryl Kornfield
{Matzav.com}
What’s to worry? Just wear a disposable mask and you’ll live forever.
No just less likely to get sick and have long covid
Smart idea to cancel those shows. Perhaps it’s time again to reinstate coumos smart policies. I hope she has the same backbone.
Why don’t you cancel yourself?
Like Delta, Omicron is a code word for the DUMBs cleaning in South Africa and the gullible public believes the media, the politicians and Big Pharma that it’s some kind of genie virus, then these stupid people inject themselves with poison.