New York State’s COVID hospital admissions are now approaching 3,000, more than doubling in the last month, as an omicron subvariant believed to be the most transmissible strain yet to feed on rising infection rates across the country, the health department’s data shows .
The total number of admissions across the state is 2,705, according to Governor Kathy Hochul’s latest report, the highest number since February 18, when the total number was 2,745.
It was just earlier in May that admissions peaked at 2,000 for the first time since late February. However, more than half (52.5%) of patients currently hospitalized for COVID throughout the Empire State did not have that diagnosis listed as a primary cause of hospitalization, which Hochul’s office says these cases are typically milder.
While the current number of admissions is less than five times what it was at the top of omicron in January – and a dirt of the nearly 19,000 admissions with COVID across the state at the height of the April 2020 pandemic, public health and elected officials are closely monitoring. the data, although they continue to emphasize, there is no need for alarm.
Hochul, a Democrat, points to these more manageable hospitalization rates and to declining cases in the three New York regions hit hardest by the omicron subvariant BA.2.12.1 – Central New York, Finger Lakes and Mohawk Valley – as reasons for optimism amid overall COVID trends that have renewed federal calls for public caution.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that travelers be tested for COVID-19 as close to the time of departure as possible.
One day ago, federal officials warned that rising case rates could intensify further in the coming months as they urged elected leaders in particularly hard-hit areas to consider increasing calls for indoor masking among all people, vaccinated or not.
The northeastern part, one of two parts of the country where recent outbreaks have been concentrated, is now a sea of orange and yellow on the CDC risk map, reflecting high- and mid-range dispersal, though largely the former, in most of three-state territory.
Forty-seven New York counties are currently considered to be at high risk for COVID spread at the community level by the CDC, reflecting 75% of the state’s 62 counties and more than a third of the 137 U.S. counties currently also designated high-risk by the CDC .
Long Island has been responsible for much of this proliferation and reports the highest rolling new case rate of all 10 regions in the state (63.0 per 100,000). This figure is well above the state average (50.7) and is primarily driven by transmission speeds in Suffolk County. The new case rate is 69.4 compared to Nassau County’s 57.2.
The region’s rolling hospitalization rate (13.65) has also topped the state average (12.64) after lingering well below in much of this latest wave.
Only one of New York’s 62 counties – the Bronx – has been in the CDC low-risk stage, though the borough of New York now meets the threshold for an upgrade to medium based on a rolling case rate per. 100,000 this city data shows well tops the 200 mark.
New York City’s rolling transmission rate remains lower than the state average (48.7 new cases per 100,000 over a seven-day period), but viral spread has intensified significantly in recent weeks. COVID transmission rates across the city increased by 34% in May, mainly driven by soaring levels of infection in Staten Island, Manhattan and now Queens.
City health officials transferred the five boroughs to a “high” COVID alert phase earlier this week, meaning both the rolling new case and rolling new hospitalization rates had hit the CDC’s threshold of 200 and 10 per cent, respectively. 100,000 inhabitants.
They had first issued a warning on Monday that the shift was likely to come in days, with the hospitalization rate of 9.2 per. 100,000. It did not even take 24 hours. And from Thursday’s data, the city’s rolling admission rate is up to 10.5 per. 100,000.
Although the alert level is now considered high, no new COVID mandates are being implemented at present. Instead, the city recommends all people wear masks indoors and in other crowded environments, as is the CDC’s guideline, while continuing to stress the importance of regular tests and other protective measures.
Should the alarm level reach “very high”, the highest of the city’s four levels, health officials would reconsider implementing indoor mask mandates under the new benchmarking system outlined by Mayor Eric Adams’ office earlier this year.
New York City COVID variant data do not specifically isolate BA.2.12.1, but this subvariant is thought to take into account most local cases. Health authorities say the strain appears to be at least 25% more transmissible than the first omicron progeny, BA.2 (which is said to be more 30% more contagious than its predecessor). And the most contagious strain has been circulating locally at a much faster pace than nationally.
The CDC estimates that BA.2.12.1 now accounts for up to 79.5% of all viruses circulating in the region, which includes the state of New York, once again compared to the previous week and reflects a much higher proportion than Estimated national pie of BA.2.12.1 (47.5%).
Although much is scientifically unknown about BA.2.12.1 at this time, there is as yet no evidence to link it to more serious COVID-related disease and death or reduced vaccine efficacy, experts say.
And while the inherent portability seems clear, officials say the same efforts that have helped knock COVID back at all stages will work now – and the breadth of tools available will prevent any serious increase in that. with the variants.
Adams sought to drive the point home in a series of TV interviews Thursday.
“We are not going to fight the war of the past as the war of the future. We have the tools and it is clear that these tools show that our hospitalizations, our deaths are under control,” the Democrat told FOX. “It’s about not panicking, it’s about being prepared with our antiviral drugs readily available, delivered to your home, if necessary, testing.”
“We will put over 16 million tests to people at home,” Adams added. “If you’re diagnosed, people stay at home. That’s the way we should start looking at living with COVID.
