NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan warned that COVID-19 risk levels will likely rise to “medium” in New York City early next week for the first time since the end of the omicron wave, Spectrum News reported.
The New York City Department of Health is encouraging New Yorkers to wear masks indoors at Passover, Ramadan and Easter gatherings this weekend, but stopped short of reimplementing mandates.
Officials also recommend getting tested before and after the holidays, though federal funding for free COVID testing ended in late March which could make it hard for uninsured New Yorkers to access affordable tests.
New York City hasn’t seen a sharp spike in cases like the one caused by Omicron in January, but infection numbers steadily rose over the course of the past month and half. The daily case rate in New York City has almost quadrupled since the beginning of March, according to Department of Health data.
Scientists attribute the increase to the spread of the BA.2 sub-variant, which accounts for about 80.6% of cases in New York. BA.2 is more infectious than omicron which is more infectious than delta which is more infectious that the original strain of COVID-19.
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