NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – New York City Public Advocate and gubernatorial candidate Jumaane Williams has tested positive for COVID-19.
Williams, 45, announced the diagnosis Thursday night in a statement, saying he was among “thousands of other New Yorkers” testing positive as “the next wave of the virus rises in our city and state.”
Williams, who is fully vaccinated and has received a booster shot, said he had mild symptoms and was “quarantining at home away from my pregnant wife, who has tested negative.”
“I know that isolation is a privilege not everyone has, and I’m grateful to be both vaccinated and boosted,” Williams said as he warned that the “recent spike in COVID-19 cases across New York is urgent and alarming.”
Williams said officials should take more precautions now to “prevent both a deadly surge and the need for more restrictive measures.” Among them, he said, should be a transition to remote work where possible, an expansion of testing infrastructure as longer lines form at sites, and a strengthening of mask protocols. He also urged the state to adopt the city’s policy of requiring proof of vaccination for indoor activities like restaurants and entertainment venues.
“I know that this moment is distressing, but we are not in March of 2020 – we have the knowledge and the tools to protect ourselves and our communities that we didn’t back then,” Williams said.
State and local officials sounded the alarm Thursday amid a rapid rise in COVID-19 cases and the increasing prevalence of the omicron variant.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said officials will distribute one million masks and 500,000 home tests. Gov. Kathy Hochul also said an online site would be set up where residents could ask for at-home tests to be sent to them, in targeted ways.
While only a few cases of the omicron variant have been confirmed so far in the city, federal health officials are estimating that it already accounts for around 13% of virus cases in the region that includes New York and New Jersey.
De Blasio said it’s clear omicron is “in full force” and spreading.
“This variant moves fast. We need to move faster,” the mayor said at a news briefing in Brooklyn on Thursday.
New York state reported nearly 18,300 new cases of the virus Wednesday, the third highest total for any single day since COVID-19 tests became widely available to the public in the spring of 2020. Nearly 83,000 people have tested positive in the seven-day period that ended Wednesday, the most for any such period since last January.
New York City had been mostly spared the worst of the big surge in COVID-19 cases that has taken place across the northeastern and midwestern U.S. since Thanksgiving, but the situation has been changing rapidly in recent days.
“I do expect cases will continue to increase in the coming days, and this is based on the trajectory that we’re following from other countries like South Africa, the United Kingdom and Denmark,” city health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi said.
De Blasio said it’s possible they could alter current plans to allow a crowd into Times Square this New Year’s Eve. But he also noted proof of COVID-19 vaccination will be required for revelers.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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