COVID-19 Daily Updates From The Mayor: Remain Vigilant

The threshold daily number of people admitted to NYC hospitals for a suspected COVID-19 is 200 patients. Today’s report is 60 patients. We are close to the threshold for the seven-day average for new cases – 550 cases. Today’s report is 528 cases yesterday across the city. The percentage of people testing positive citywide for the COVID-19 threshold is 5%. Today’s report is 2.48%.

“That’s obviously a number we’re watching carefully,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said at his press conference this morning. “That’s a number that would obviously cause us all concern, but then let’s look at the more essential number, the seven-day rolling average, that comes in at 1.66% That is very much the range we’ve been in in the last few weeks. That’s a number that is fairly stable. We want to keep it that way and then push it back down.”

“The goal here – and I am absolutely convinced we can meet this goal – is to stop a second wave from happening here in New York City,” De Blasio said.

According to Dr. Jay Varma, the Senior Advisor for Public Health, the increase in hospitalizations has not yet been “dramatic,” but the city is prepared if it gets to that point.

“What we’ve seen so far has been an increase in cases, which is concerning and that we’re taking action on, but our increases in hospitalization have not been as dramatic as they could have been. There have only been slight increases over time which is to be expected,” Varma said.

“We’ve learned a lot about how to manage [hospital] bed capacity, about how to manage staffing, and very importantly, how to actually treat this disease more effectively. So we remain optimistic that if there is unfortunately an increase in hospitalizations, that we will have the resources and staffing to do that. But it’s something we remain extremely vigilant to watch and take care for, especially given the situation throughout the US and Europe.”

Dr. Theodore Long, the Executive Director at Test & Trace Corps, said the city was being transparent with the public and will continue to do so regarding COVID-19 numbers.

“We have an indicator we share every day, so that we’re completely transparent with exactly where we are with hospitalization,” he said. “So you’re knowing in real-time exactly what we know.”

It’s almost the holiday season, and normally that would mean lots of traveling and lots of visitors. This year will be different. The Mayor won’t be traveling for the holidays as he usually does.

“NYC  is magical during the holidays. Millions of people come here to be a part of it in a normal year. And we all travel around to see family around the country, around the world. It’s a beautiful time of year,” de Blasio said. “The best thing would be to keep it local, stay nearby, keep it safe,” for everyone’s protection this year. “It is not easy. None of this has been easy, but New Yorkers have shown a lot of toughness, and that toughness has saved lives. And let’s do the smart thing this holiday season. Let’s stay nearby and let’s protect each other.”