NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Calls are growing for more stringent restrictions in New York City as its coronavirus numbers show no signs of slowing down.
City Councilmember Mark Levine said time is running out.
"We have to rally the public. It has to happen now, because every day that passes it's going to be harder and harder to slow this," Levine said, adding the city faces a choice. "Either acting now in a relatively limited way or facing a full shelter-in-place order coming down the pipe in the weeks ahead."
Levine, who chairs the City Council's health committee, is joining his counterparts in the state Senate and Assembly to call for all of New York City to be elevated into an orange zone, which would mean more closures throughout the five boroughs.
"And that unfortunately includes indoor dining, gyms, and traditional office spaces and non essential businesses," Levine said. "It's too late to do this in just a limited number of neighborhoods because we do have broad citywide spread."
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Gov. Andrew Cuomo has so far taken a neighborhood by neighborhood approach, but Levine said the won't work for the five boroughs.
"Here in the city we move around between neighborhoods and neighborhood lines are arbitrary. ZIP code lines are arbitrary," Levine said.
Though he does support schools reopening for younger students and those with special needs.
"Our priority has to be acting in places like indoor dining and indoor office space first," Levine said.
Mayor Bill de Blasio on Monday said more restrictions could be put in place if the coronavirus numbers don't improve.
"These indicators are troubling. The situation is definitely getting more serious," the mayor said. "If these numbers don't level off soon then all options have to be on the table. That's a decision the state will ultimately make, but I think everyone is seeing the trend and are very concerned. If we don't see improvement soon all options have to be on the table."
He is urging New Yorkers to double down on COVID safety measures to beat back the virus.
"We've got to all take this really helpful guidance and live it for a few months as we fight back this second wave once and for all and as the vaccine comes into this city more and more," the mayor said. "So this is our last big push where we can get through soon to the point where more and more New Yorkers will be vaccinated and we turn a corner."
The governor's office has said it's reworking its microcluster system to emphasize hospital capacity more than positivity rates, but the state is also waiting to see the impact of Thanksgiving gatherings.
Meanwhile, New York City is tweaking its system for tracking the coronavirus.
De Blasio said the city is doing away with the single-day COVID-19 positivity number in favor of 7-day and longer-term averages to bring a sharper focus into view.
"Our indicators need to be retooled to reflect what we're seeing now and to make sure that we're giving people the fullest picture of what we're facing and clarity about where we need to be going forward," de Blasio said.
On Monday, the city's 7-day average positivity rate stood at 4.98%.
The city is also adding probable COVID-19 cases to its indicators and tracking hospital admissions per 100,000 on a 7-day average.