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New York City Raises Covid-19 Alert Level to ‘Medium’ as Case Numbers Rise

New York City Raises Covid-19 Alert Level as Case Numbers Rise

The recent uptick in Covid cases across New York City has prompted increased caution from the city.

The city has moved to a “medium” alert level from “low” as new cases per 100,000 people over the last seven days surpassed 200. The latest figure of 209.02 cases per 100,000 is the highest since early February.

New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan and Mayor Eric Adams said they’ve seen an increase in hospitalizations from the latest wave. At an unrelated press conference on Monday, they repeated calls for vaccinations, boosters, indoor masking to help the city curb the rise in virus cases.

Under the Covid-19 alert system, Adams and city health officials have the authority to reinstate some pandemic mitigation measures, like requiring masks indoors or mandating proof of vaccination for customers at places like restaurants and theaters. But asked whether he was ready to reinstate any of those measures in response to rising Covid cases, Adams said “we’re not there yet.”

Hospitalizations have increased over the last month but current patients hospitalized remain below 500. During the omicron-induced surge around the holidays, hospitalizations in the city peaked above 6,500 in January, according to data from New York State.

Guidance for the new alert level encourages New Yorkers to wear a face mask in public indoor settings where vaccine status is unknown.

Manhattan has the highest transmission levels of any New York City borough, though numbers have trended lower since mid-April, according to city data. Transmission levels have started rising across other boroughs over the last couple of weeks, prompting the change in the city’s alert level.

“This reflects a growing wave of omicron sub-variants,” Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine tweeted Monday.

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.