What to Know
- New York City has crossed one million confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases, according to city data.
- As of the latest numbers released Monday, New York City has seen 824,985 confirmed cases and 179,440 probable cases to date.
- The latest information is of cumulative data on COVID-19 in New York City since the city’s first confirmed case was diagnosed on Feb. 29, 2020.
New York City has crossed one million confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases, according to city data.
As of the latest numbers released Monday, New York City has seen 824,985 confirmed cases and 179,440 probable cases to date. Confirmed cases are described as cases with people with a positive molecular test, while probable cases are those instances that concern people with a positive antigen test, or symptoms and confirmed exposure, or probable death.
The latest information is of cumulative data on COVID-19 in New York City since the city’s first confirmed case was diagnosed on Feb. 29, 2020.
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The latest numbers come at a time when New Yorkers will have to start carrying their COVID-19 vaccine card or a digital copy to get into restaurants, bars, nightclubs and outdoor music festivals as the city, and country, begin to grapple with an increase of COVID-19 cases brought on by the delta variant.
The new requirement, now set to begin Tuesday, is the most aggressive step the city has taken yet to curb a surge in cases caused by the delta variant. As one of the first major U.S. cities to require anyone partaking in certain indoor activities or large outdoor gatherings to prove they’ve been inoculated, all eyes are on the five boroughs. People will have to show proof that they have had at least one vaccine dose and business owners are burdened with enforcing the rules.
Healthcare workers in New York are part of the latest workforce to see a vaccine mandate as part of a push from officials who hope to curb the spread of the highly contagious delta variant.
The mandate comes on the same day state health officials authorized a third dose of the vaccine for New Yorkers with compromised immune systems. The authorization follows guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued late last week.
New Yorkers eligible for the third shot must wait 28 days after receiving their second dose (a third dose if only authorized for Moderna and Pfizer) and is effective immediately, the governor said.
On Monday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced all healthcare workers in New York must get at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by Monday, Sept. 27.
Overall, experts agree that vaccines prove to dramatically lower the risk of severe outcomes associated with COVID. Those at all levels of government, including the incoming New York governor, recognize the lion's share of risk lies with the unvaccinated.
The number of doses administered daily in New York doubled this month compared with July, but doctors say it will take several weeks for the latest spike in cases and hospitalizations to level off as immunity kicks in.
That's why health experts continue to urge everyone to social distance, wash hands and wear face-covering because they are scientifically proven ways to reduce the risk of contracting viruses, regardless of vaccination status.
But the fight against the delta variant isn't anywhere close to over, it's only just beginning, as Mayor Bill de Blasio and other city leaders have made clear.
COVID strategy now continues to focus on those communities, though there's no doubt an awareness that protection for some who have been fully inoculated may be waning or less efficient when faced with the delta variant -- a variant that has been seen to impact children and young adults at a rate not seen previously when it comes to COVID-19.
Hospital admissions for confirmed COVID-19 cases in kids under 18 are at their highest level in three months in the greater New York area -- and nationally, they're at the highest levels recorded yet.
Among kids ages 0-17 in HHS Region 2 (New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands), the rate of hospitalization with COVID per 100,000 people now stands at 0.19, according to CDC data through last Friday. That's the highest level since early May.
Nationally, the ratio is at 0.38 -- by far the highest yet in the CDC's dataset.
The increase in child hospitalizations comes amid the unchecked spread of the delta variant of COVID-19 nationwide, and growing evidence that the variant is more severe for children than past instances of the virus.
