Mayor Bill de Blasio rejected calls for a new round of lockdowns in New York City on Friday as officials race to get ahead of a coronavirus outbreak likely fueled by recent arrival of the new and hyper-contagious Omicron variant.
Hizzoner’s statements come as city data shows COVID cases spiking across Gotham as daily test positivity rates soared above 6 percent this week and nearly 6,000 new cases were reported on Tuesday alone, the most recently posted 24-hour period.
Hospitalizations saw an uptick but still remained relatively low.
“No, no, no,” Hizzoner told WNYC’s Brian Lehrer during his weekly appearance on the public broadcaster on Friday when asked about possible shutdowns of public schools and other activities.
“Don’t fight yesterday’s war,” he added. “This is not March of 2020. We’re one of the most highly vaccinated places in the United States of America.”
More than 90 percent of adults in New York City have gotten at least one shot of the coronavirus vaccine — and 71 percent of the city’s entire population has gotten the required two doses.
“The more we vaccinate, the more we can get through this,” de Blasio said.
“The great danger here is shutdowns and restrictions,” the mayor added, referencing the curfews and stay-at-home orders from the spring of 2020. “That would really destroy, in so many ways, people’s livelihoods and it would, I think, after everything people have been through — it would be traumatizing.”
Omicron’s arrival in the Big Apple comes as state authorities in Albany are battling a wave of coronavirus cases linked to the more serious Delta variant, which is threatening to overwhelm hospitals there and has triggered a new statewide vaccine or mask-up mandate.
Scientists are still racing to piece together what the emergence of Omicron — discovered during the Thanksgiving holiday — means for the nearly two-year-old coronavirus pandemic.
Preliminary studies have offered some relatively good news: suggesting that the average Omicron case is less severe than the previous strains of the virus, which have killed more than 800,000 Americans, including 35,000 people in New York City alone.
However, there is also likely bad news: scientists believe the current two-dose vaccination regimes from Pfizer and Moderna offer less protection against infection — though it appears they regain much off their lost efficacy with a third “booster” shot.
De Blasio announced plans Thursday to battle back the surge in Omicron cases by handing out 1 million masks, dispensing more at-home tests and dramatically expand testing hours at the city’s publicly-run hospitals and health clinics.
Hizzoner has also continued to press ahead with his order that private employers require employees back in the office get vaccinated by Dec. 27.
That’s stricter than the statewide rule ordered by Gov. Kathy Hochul, which requires all public indoor spaces — including offices, restaurants and shops — either implement a vaccine passport program or require face masks in a new bid to slow the surge.
