NYC COVID alert raised to ‘medium’ as cases rise, but hospitalizations stay low
The risk of the spread of COVID-19 in New York City has been raised from “low�� to “medium” as cases rise — despite hospitalizations and deaths remaining low, the Big Apple’s top doctor announced Monday.
While the positivity rate in the five boroughs has risen from a seven-day average of about 1.5% in early March and 3% in early April to 6.49% as of Friday, in recent months hospitalizations have remained flat while deaths have declined, according to health department data.
The city on March 1 saw a weekly average of 44 people hospitalized after contracting the virus compared to 40 New Yorkers in the most recent figures. And as of March 1, a seven-day average of 15 people died of COVID-19 per day — compared to just three or four daily virus deaths in late April, data shows.
In a statement Monday morning, city Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan explained he is raising the alert level from low to medium because the five boroughs had crossed the threshold of a rate of 200 cases per 100,000 people. The expected new designation is purely advisory and does not impose any new restrictions or mandates.
“With COVID-19 cases rising, NYC has entered the Medium risk alert level,” he said. “As a practical matter, what this means for New Yorkers is that they must exercise even greater caution than they have the last few weeks.”
The alert level rising only minimally changes city health guidance for most New Yorkers.
According to color-coded coronavirus alert level guidelines, the yellow “Medium” risk of community spread means that New Yorkers are advised to “Wear a face mask in public indoor settings where vaccine status is not known.” The green “Low” virus alert level instructs Big Apple residents to “Consider wearing a face mask in indoor public settings where vaccine status is not known.”
Additionally, the heightened alert level advises unvaccinated people or people who are at a high risk of severe illness from the virus to “take additional precautions” such as staying away from crowded indoor and outdoor environments, while the “Low” classification does not.
“If you are at a higher risk for severe disease due to age, underlying health conditions or because you are unvaccinated, consider additional precautions such as avoiding crowded indoor gatherings,” said Vasan in the press release. “We continue to strongly recommend all New Yorkers wear a mask in public indoor settings.”
Speaking to reporters Monday afternoon during an unrelated press conference, Vasan explained that for New York City to enter the “high” risk gradation, hospitalizations and death would have to soar to “a significantly higher level.”
During the news conference, Mayor Eric Adams referenced isolating Gracie Mansion during his own mild case of COVID-19 — detected by an at-home test and preceded by vaccination and a booster shot — as a “case study” for how to handle the new stage of the pandemic, and urged residents to continue adopting precautionary measures.
“I say to New Yorkers: let’s take necessary, precautionary steps, wear your mask, get vaccinated, get boosted and we can weather this storm,” he told reporters in Brooklyn. “We’re looking at the complete scenarios. Every morning, the medical team is updating us. We’re looking at the number of hospitalizations, the number of deaths, the antiviral medicines that are out there. We are equipped better than we were before.”
“And as long as New Yorkers continue to do the right thing, we can weather this storm together,”
In the morning press release, Vasan urged people to get vaccinated and boosted if they haven’t done so.
“Vaccination and boosters are as critical as ever. If you’re eligible for your booster, please, get the dose now. The coming weeks will be critical to slowing the spread of COVID-19 and getting back to a Low risk level so we can more safely enjoy our spring,” he said.
“As a city, we have the tools we need to beat back this virus. As New Yorkers, we are in this together,” the top doctor added. “By incorporating these steps into our daily lives, we can continue to look out for one another and ourselves.”
The announcements came after in mid-April Vasan revealed that the Big Apple was expected to soon shift to a “medium-risk” COVID-19 alert level.
“In the next few days, likely by early next week, we’re going to be entering a new level of risk, moving from a low-risk environment to a medium-risk environment on the basis of cases,” Vasan said during an appearance on NY1.
City data shows that 78% of New Yorkers of all ages are inoculated against COVID-19 and that 87.7% of adults have received at least two shots.
As deaths and hospitalizations have fallen, city and state elected officials in recent months have lifted several coronavirus-related rules — including the “Key to NYC” indoor venue proof-of-vaccination requirement, mask mandates for students eligible to get the jabs and the state’s business mask mandate.
The city’s municipal worker and private-sector mandatory vaccine regulations, however, remain in effect, as does the face-covering requirement for children under 5 years old while in day care facilities and public schools.
Additional reporting by Bernadette Hogan
