What to Know
- NYC's vaccine mandate applies to non-public school staff as of Monday; the sweeping private-sector expansion comes Dec. 27
- Mayor Bill de Blasio has also discussed adding COVID booster doses to the vaccine mandates amid the omicron wave; early data shows the variant may be more vaccine-resistant but is responsive to boosters
- Moderna just released data that shows its booster raises antibodies 37-fold, while AstraZeneca reported last week its antibody cocktail, Evusheld, retained effectiveness against omicron as well
Yet another New York City COVID vaccine mandate took effect Monday, this one applying to non-public school staff as the sweeping private-sector expansion looms next week, while the furious spread of the omicron variant threatens to upend holiday plans, and disrupt the former pandemic epicenter's progress, once again.
Mayor Bill de Blasio, in his waning days in office, sought Monday to prepare New York City residents for what he and his health team expect to be a case surge that will only intensify, and rapidly so, over the next month. But it should be short-lived.
"We're going to have a challenging few weeks, but the good news is based on everything our healthcare leadership understands at this moment, we are talking about a matter of weeks." de Blasio said Monday. "We're going to see a really fast upsurge in cases. We're going to see a lot of New Yorkers affected by omicron."
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"So far, the cases are more mild than what we've experienced previously but there's a lot of evidence we're still waiting for," he added. "What we do know is omicron moves very fast, it's very transmissible. It moves fast, we have to move faster. And we do know vaccination helps against omicron."
That appears most true when it comes to preventing severe illness from omicron. Mounting evidence shows two vaccine doses have plunging efficacy against the newest variant of concern. Boosters provide even more protection, Pfizer and Moderna have said their data shows. And any doses of the three main COVID vaccines provide more protection than no doses at all, the CDC director has said.
Could booster shots begin to be part of the mandates, too? De Blasio had hinted a few weeks ago that was possible, as the city began to see the early effects of omicron, combined with the still-persistent power of delta, on its core viral rates.
Source: CoVariants
Amy O’Kruk/NBC
In the face of omicron's unprecedented spread, leading U.S. health experts like Dr. Anthony Fauci have for the first time suggested a redefinition of "fully vaccinated" that includes boosters could be on the table, which could once again force an overhaul of policies around vaccine mandates, travel and temporary closures.
The pace of new infections has only escalated since and is expected to continue doing so for a hopefully brief period of time, de Blasio said. The five boroughs' rolling weekly case average is up 91% over the averages for the prior four weeks. COVID hospitalizations are up 21% by the same parameters, though de Blasio has said at this point, New York City hospitals are able to manage the increases.
"We will get past omicron. We will continue our recovery in this city," the mayor vowed Monday. "Vaccination will be the key to all of this and New York City continues to lead the way in this country in terms of huge numbers of people vaccinated and aggressive measures to get even more folks vaccinated."
The mayor pointed to the 5-to-11-year-old age group as a key growth opportunity. His latest vaccine mandate expansion seeks to help protect those youngest eligible for vaccination as the city pushes to get their dose rates up. It affects 102,000 employees, according to de Blasio. His unprecedented full private-sector vaccine mandate takes effect a week from now and affects 184,000 businesses, at least.
The latter is evidence the city is using "every tool we have," the mayor said. Asked point-blank about more potential shutdowns because of the latest viral increases, de Blasio said he doesn't see that happening.
First, the mayor said, New York City has a high vaccination rate (82.5% of adults fully vaccinated). It also has higher-than-average vaccination rates for the youngest eligible age groups with ample room for improvement: 70.2% full vaccination rate for kids aged 12 to 17 and a 13.7% full vaccination rate for kids aged 5 to 11. Those numbers compare with a 52.7% full vaccination rate for U.S. kids aged 12 to 17 and a 12.3% full vaccination rate for kids aged 5 to 11, the latest CDC data shows).
Statewide, there's more variance. Three regions -- Mohawk Valley, North Country and the Southern Tier -- have fully vaccinated about 2/3 of their adult populations, stats Gov. Kathy Hochul has said frustrate her as cases and hospitalizations rise.
Statewide COVID rates have soared in recent weeks and surpassed pandemic records multiple times in the last few days alone. Hochul reported a single-day pandemic high for cases on Friday only to break the record twice each weekend day. Virus hospitalizations stand at 3,880, up 101% since Nov. 1.
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Omicron has raced ahead of other variants and is now the dominant version of the coronavirus in the U.S., accounting for 73% of new infections last week, federal health officials said Monday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention numbers showed nearly a six-fold increase in omicron's share of infections in only one week.
In much of the country, omicron's prevalence is even higher. It's responsible for an estimated 90 percent of new infections in the New York area, the Southeast, the industrial Midwest and the Pacific Northwest.
New York has confirmed about 192 omicron cases to date, more than a fifth of them in New York City, though experts believe those numbers are significantly underreported. The Empire State only sequences about 3.6% of positive samples, which is more than New Jersey but about half California's rate, CDC data shows.
Omicron-associated symptoms could be confused with the common cold at times, experts say, which could lead to more undetected COVID cases as well.
As New York City's top doctor said Sunday, "Omicron has proven to be the fastest, fittest and most formidable COVID-19 variant due to its ability to evade the immune system, meaning that those who’ve already had COVID and those who are vaccinated are more likely to be infected with omicron compared to past variants."
While early data has shown this variant may be more vaccine-resistant than earlier COVID strains, accounting in part for rising rates of breakthrough infections, all existing vaccines provide more protection against the variant than no vaccine -- and booster shots multiply that protection considerably, the drugmakers have said.
Moderna was the latest to supply evidence on that front Monday regarding its COVID vaccine booster and omicron. Pfizer has said its booster is highly effective while AstraZeneca reported last week its antibody cocktail, Evusheld, retained effectiveness against omicron. More analyses on that treatment are expected soon.
Meanwhile, the pandemic's apparent fifth wave comes as a new mayor is about to take the reins of New York City, one who even before taking office is encountering pushback and pleas from many businesses who want vaccine mandates paused.
Mayor-elect Eric Adams, who has appeared beside de Blasio at a handful of COVID briefings as of late, including Sunday's, has said he would make a decision with his administration as to whether to continue vaccine mandates to start his term.
He'll take the helm of a city likely still in the throes of this multifaceted COVID wave, one propelled by, according to officials, the unvaccinated, two variants of concern, holiday-related spikes. The combined threat is impacting COVID testing lines also.
The crush of people looking to get tested ahead of this part of the holiday season has overwhelmed testing sites across the city, with some customers saying they've waited in line for hours. De Blasio has pledged that system, which hasn't seen such intense demand since vaccines became widely accessible, is being reinvigorated.
"Testing helps us on so many levels. It helps to make sure each person knows where they stand on a very personal level," the mayor said. "We're finding the supplies are becoming a challenge because all over the country, testing is going up suddenly and we're seeing a supply problem that needs to be addressed."
De Blasio said the city is working to minimize that problem via multiple avenues, including the White House and private businesses. In the meantime, there are 89 city-run testing sites across all five boroughs. Twenty-three more of them are coming online this week, three of those mobile, to immediately boost capacity.
To help meet demand, city officials will also give out 500,000 rapid tests through community groups throughout the week. Get more testing information here.
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The strategy is part of a broad approach that also includes a revised health advisory, an increase in testing capacity and a new campaign to promote booster shots. City officials said Test & Trace Corps' testing sites will now be open seven days a week and take-home tests will be provided to people if lines are too long.
The state has also been building its test kit inventory, with a million tests received last week and two more million due in the next two weeks. Hochul says she's targeting those tests to high infection areas with low vaccination rates.
"Testing is important but in areas where people aren't even vaccinated and refuse to get vaccinated, we're concerned that they're the individuals who are gonna end up in their already overcrowded hospitals hurting our capacity to take care of not just COVID patients but people who need life-saving medical care," she said.
The Democrat says test kits will also be made available in schools because she doesn't want to risk any pandemic-related school closures after the remote or hybrid struggle kids endured for the better part of the pandemic.
New York City, which is running the largest public school system in the country with no remote learning option, has said it will not re-close schools systemwide.
