N.Y. Covid Cases Top 20,000 for Daily Record as Shutdowns Spread

(Bloomberg) -- New York state is experiencing a dramatic spike in Covid-19 cases, driving a fresh wave of school closings, work-from-home migrations and business disruptions. 

The 21,027 new cases reported Friday surpassed the previous record of 19,942 set in January. Of the roughly 263,500 people tested, 7.98% were positive for the virus.

The surge shifted health officials’ focus to hospitalizations and deaths, key gauges of the pandemic that are not -- as yet -- rising commensurately. Patients hospitalized with Covid-19 in New York are at about 3,800. While that’s more than double what they were in early November, it’s far short of the nearly 19,000 patients hospitalized in April 2020.

Deaths tell a similar story. There were 60 new fatalities reported on Friday. The number of deaths have increased in recent weeks but in the beginning of 2021 daily fatalities were consistently above 100, a total that has not been topped since February. In April 2020, New York deaths caused by the virus in a single day peaked near 800.

New York’s upwelling in cases comes in lockstep with the emergence of the omicron variant, which has appeared to spread easier than previous versions of the virus. In New York City, businesses are asking workers to stay home and classrooms are shutting down as many begin to rethink holiday plans. A top medical adviser to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio cautioned residents on Thursday that the positive-test rate for Covid-19 had doubled in three days, a pace he said the city hadn’t seen before.

Holiday Time

The amount of testing can sometimes skew case numbers, however that doesn’t appear to be the case in this instance. There were fewer tests conducted in the data reported Friday than in January 2021 when the previous case record was hit.

The rise in cases is being driven by colder weather and holiday gatherings, and it hits during New York City’s peak season for visitors. Broadway, a top tourist attraction, was forced to close several shows this week, including “Hamilton,” “Tina” and “Mrs. Doubtfire,” after outbreaks among staff. On Friday, the Rockettes canceled four Christmas Spectacular shows at Radio City Music Hall.

The state, like others in the northeast U.S., is dealing with a convergence of the delta and omicron variants. New York reported its first omicron cases on Dec. 2. While delta still makes up the majority of cases, omicron’s share has grown quickly to 13% of the New York region’s cases, according to modeling from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

The rapid increase in cases has led several area colleges to move final exams online, including Cornell University in upstate New York and New Jersey’s Princeton University.  At Cornell, which had more than 900 cases this week, all 115 of the sequenced cases were omicron, according to information released by the local health department.

More Omicron

New York Governor Kathy Hochul said omicron cases are “going up exponentially,” in an interview with CNN on Friday. She urged residents to get vaccinated and wear masks, including vaccinated and boosted people due to the spread of breakthrough cases with the omicron variant. Roughly 70% of New Yorkers are fully vaccinated, compared to the U.S. average of 61%.

Hochul said the state’s confirmed omicron cases have jumped from 50 to 250 in a matter of days, but that the number could increase as sequencing lags spread. She said that the state is trying to keep businesses open despite the increase in virus cases and that a “serious decline in the number of cases” would be necessary for the state to re-evaluate the indoor mask mandate it reinstated this week.

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