NEW YORK (WCBS 880) -- New York’s omicron case total is up to 20 as of Thursday, Gov. Kathy Hochul said, but delta is still what's driving an uptick in COVID-19 cases.
Hochul said that 13 of the omicron variant cases have been confirmed in the city, while three are in Suffolk County and two are in Westchester.
State Health Commissioner Dr. Mary Bassett said that they’re monitoring the variant, and it’s unclear if it will end up overtaking delta as the major strain in New York. She said at this point, delta is driving the uptick in cases and hospitalizations.
Bassett said there are three major questions they’re looking to answer on omicron — whether it’s more transmissible, whether it could cause more severe disease and how vaccines will protect against it.
Hochul teased that she would announce “additional steps” to fight the surge in cases Friday, but did not offer more details.
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The White House has said 99.9% of U.S. COVID-19 cases are the delta variant, while the CDC said this week that almost all of the handful of omicron cases thus far resulted in only mild symptoms.
In an overview of the latest COVID numbers, Hochul highlighted that the state was averaging around 34 cases per 100,000 just weeks ago, but that number is near 50 now.
“This is an alarm going off,” said Hochul.
Hospitalizations also rose to just under 3,500, a figure that was under 2,000 in November. Hochul announced that 32 New York hospitals have suspended elective surgeries, which will be reassessed on Jan. 15 -- none of the hospitals are located in the downstate region.
The lowest regional case count by far is in New York City, where officials have taken up vaccine mandates that other parts of the state have not put into place. When asked if she should consider similar moves outside of the city in hopes of similarly low case numbers, Hochul said, “I will continue to take additional steps as necessary but right now the numbers don't look good ... plans are being developed to address the impending surge.”
On the vaccine front, Hochul said 92% of New York adults have gotten at least a single shot of the vaccine.
But while she was happy with that number, Hochul was less pleased with the vaccination numbers among those 5-11 — where just 20% have gotten a single shot thus far.
“That’s good, but we have a long way to go there,” said Hochul, who was looking to gather data from school districts and target high-need areas.
Hochul added that omicron concerns likely drove a 50% uptick in booster shots that were administered over the past week.
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