This browser does not support the Video element.
De Blasio cuts back on Times Square NYE celebrations
With COVID case records being shattered each day in New York and Broadway theaters shutting up shop again, the New Year's Eve celebration in Times Square is being scaled back as well.
NEW YORK - Another day and another shocking record for positive NY COVID tests.
New York reported 38,835 positive tests on Thursday afternoon for the previous day. That smashes the record 28,924 positive tests the day before. The numbers have nearly doubled from two days ago there were 22,258 positive tests in the state.
Thursday marks the sixth record high for cases in a week.
A week prior there were fewer than 13,000 cases a day reported statewide. The state's positivity rate now stands at 12%.
NY has passed 3,000,000 coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic according to statistics released on Wednesday afternoon.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Thursday that Times Square New Years Eve events were being scaled back.
But de Blasio has said he's committed to no NYC lockdown or NYC school shutdown.
What are some symptoms of the new omicron variant of COVID-19
"Adamantly I feel this: No more shutdowns. We’ve been through them," de Blasio said on Tuesday. "They were devastating. We can’t go through it again."
New York City is ramping up COVID testing and is offering at home COVID test kits.
This browser does not support the Video element.
Do you need to quarantine or isolate?
Dr. Mary Bassett, the acting NY State Health Commissioner, says she and other health officials are re-examining the quarantine and isolation recommendations.
City run vaccine sites and booster sites remain in operation. $100 booster shot bonuses are being offered in New York City through the end of the year to get people to get the third shot.
The city has never had so many people test positive in such a short period of time since testing became widely available; there's no clear picture of how many people got the virus during New York City's first surge in spring 2020.
Hospitalizations also have been increasing, though much more slowly.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has vowed to keep schools open despite the increase in cases.
"We believe that it’s critically important that our children not end up in that same situation they were for so many months, when they were so displaced from their normal environment," Hochul said Monday.
144,541 vaccine doses were administered in New York in the previous 24 hours. There have now been 32,693,260 vaccine doses administered in NY, according to state figures.
Related NYC COVID Stories
- How will the world decide when the pandemic is over?
- $100 booster shot bonus in NYC
- Stunning spike in COVID rattles New York
- Omicron sweeps across U.S.; now 73% of COVID-19 cases
- COVID testing sites search part of Google, Biden partnership