If you plan -- or think you might need to -- get tested for COVID in New York City over the Fourth of July holiday weekend, you better do it before Monday.
NYC Health + Hospitals reminded New Yorkers on Friday that all of its COVID-19 testing and vaccination as well as its primary care sites will be closed in observance of the Independence Day holiday. And the timing isn't exactly ideal.
The five boroughs' positivity rate ratcheted up to late-January highs this week as top doctors warned a sixth COVID wave fueled by the BA.5 omicron subvariant, described by some to be the "worst version" of the strain yet, may be upon us.
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The reminder comes as New York City works to reevaluate its COVID alert system amid another pandemic wave that, unlike the others, has not seen soaring positivity rates coupled with significant increases in hospitalizations, according to officials.
To be sure, the number of people actually getting tested is at multi-month lows, skewing the positivity rate. But citywide transmission levels were up about 19% between June 20 and June 27. That percentage change is significantly up from earlier this week and indicates a legitimate increase in viral spread.
In some parts of Manhattan, positivity rates are nearly 17% now, while they top 20% in eastern parts of Queens. And New York City has the highest rolling new case rate (37.0 per 100,000) of all 10 regions in the state, with only Long Island coming in as a close second at a rate of 34.0 new cases per 100,000 residents on a rolling basis.
The latest increases are hardly relegated to just New York City. The number of U.S. counties at high risk for community COVID spread soared in the CDC's weekly update, with Friday's map showing 60% more counties at high risk in just a week.
Almost 20% of U.S. counties -- 627, total -- are now in the CDC's high-risk area. Last week, about 12% -- 392, total -- were considered to be high risk for COVID spread. New York state added Suffolk County to the high-risk pool in Friday's CDC update.
Suffolk and Nassau counties on Long Island are the only high-risk counties in New York state, according to the CDC, at this time. Four of New Jersey's 21 counties are at high risk, reflecting no change from last week. All but three of Connecticut's eight counties are low risk, while the rest are medium.
