NEW YORK: New York state reported on Friday that just over 21,000 people had tested positive for COVID-19 the previous day, the highest single-day total for new cases since testing for the virus became widely available. done.
A one-day snapshot of virus data may be an unreliable way of measuring trends, but the new record stems from a steady rise that began in the western part of the state in late October, and began last week in New York City. .
Less than half of the positive results were in the city, where lines were growing at testing stations and some Broadway shows and the Rockets Christmas show were canceling performances due to outbreaks among cast members.
Dennis Nash, executive director of the Institute for Implementation Science in Population Health at the City University of New York, said the rapid rise in infections should be of great concern, but was inevitable given the rapid spread of the omicron variant.
“We were already headed for a winter boom with Delta, which is a very worrying thing in itself,” Nash said.
But then you layer on top of that the newer Omicron variant, which is more permeable from an infection standpoint, he said, noting that current vaccines may be unable to contain the more aggressive newer variant.
Of the positive tests reported by the state, around 10,300 were in the city, roughly equal to its share of the state’s population.
Statewide, New York averaged 13,257 positive tests per day in the seven-day period ended Thursday. This is 71 per cent more than two weeks ago.
The state’s previous one-day high for positive tests came on January 14, 2021, when only less than 20,000 people tested positive.
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