The holiday celebrations sparked concerns in New York City on Sunday as crowds that had traveled for Thanksgiving returned home, groups gathered to admire the Christmas lights and skyrocketing COVID cases in the city of n ‘got worse.
New York state’s positivity rate rose from 3.9% to 4.27% – the highest since May, said Andrew Cuomo, the state’s governor.
He said he expects the situation to get worse.
“You’re in the holiday season and it’s an increased social activity, and that means an increased infection rate,” Cuomo said. “You’re going to see the rate increase during the holiday season, which ends after the new year.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Sunday that public elementary schools would reopen on December 7, amid widespread dissatisfaction that schools are closed but meals inside restaurants are still open.
High schools and colleges would remain closed, but de Blasio said the city would drop a 3% positivity test threshold it had adopted to shut down the school system.
New York’s school system is the largest in the country, with 1.1 million children.
Amid the worry, the crowd watched the wind to see the traditional lights outside Saks Fifth Avenue, which were turned on Monday by former Yankees star and TV presenter Alex Rodriguez.
Crowds of people gathered in front of Saks Fifth Avenue in Manhattan this week to watch the traditional light show
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New Yorkers and visitors lined up outside Saks Fifth Avenue on Sunday to peek inside holiday windows
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Crowds stood outside Saks to watch the traditional show on Sunday
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Hudson Yards was alive on Saturday with Christmas shoppers admiring the lights
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Hudson Yards in New York City drew large crowds of festive shoppers on Sunday
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Sunday evening, a large number of people expected by Saks to watch the lighting
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The theme for this year’s 10-story light exhibit is ‘Here’s How We Celebrate’ – designed to focus on being with loved ones and the various ways people celebrate the holidays across the world. United States
The six windows show different types of celebrations in the city, including a musical celebration in Times Square, a couple delivering gifts via the Roosevelt Island streetcar, and a celebration around a neighborhood food truck at a party in vacation.
The nightly show is broadcast live via the Saks website, for those who are concerned about crowds and want to watch at home.
More and more crowds were heading to Randall’s Island, a 516-acre space in the East River on the edge of Manhattan, where for the second year in a row a festival of lights was being held.
The LuminoCity festival aims to combine the traditional art of Chinese lantern festivals with modern design and immersive stories.
Randall’s Island LuminoCity Festival of Light Held for the Second Year
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Visitors are invited to stroll through the light installations spread over the site
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The light show is inspired by traditional Chinese lanterns
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The artists and designers spent many months working on the installations
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Crowds of people, seen in silhouette, gathered on Randall’s Island to view the light installations
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With Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade unfolding without spectators, Radio City’s “Christmas Spectacular” canceled, and the New Years Eve ballooning virtually, the festival is one of the only winter events to take place.
Timed $ 25 tickets were sold, and face masks and temperature checks were mandatory.
The festival took place as public health experts predicted that COVID-19 cases would rise again.
“We saw what happened after Memorial Day,” said Dr Deborah Birx, White House coronavirus response coordinator.
“Now we are deeply concerned about what might happen after Thanksgiving because the number of cases – 25,000 versus 180,000 per day, is where we are deeply concerned. “
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Sunday that public elementary schools would reopen on December 7
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De Blasio’s decision was in response to protests, such as the one on November 19 outside City Hall
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New Yorkers were angry that hair salons, gyms and dining inside restaurants were all allowed, but schools closed.
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On Thanksgiving eve, typically one of the busiest travel days of the year in the United States, more than 1.07 million people have passed through U.S. airports – most of the day since the start. pandemic, according to the Transportation Security Administration. .
Nearly six million Americans traveled by air in the week leading up to Thanksgiving, according to the TSA, a number that is however less than half that of the same period last year.
In New Jersey, the positivity rate is over 10%.
The state’s largest city, Newark, remains under a lockdown notice.
Mayor Ras Baraka said the restrictions are working, but in the hard-hit neighborhood in the Ironbound section, the positivity rate hovers around 40 percent.
“We are going in the right direction. We must continue, remain vigilant. Keep fighting, keep pushing, hold the line and bring those numbers down, ”Baraka said.
On Saturday, the number of COVID cases in the country for November exceeded four million, more than double the October total, continuing an alarming rise in the epidemic.
The number of COVID-19 patients currently being treated in hospitals across the United States nearly doubled last month, reaching more than 93,000 over Thanksgiving weekend.
The seven-day moving average of deaths in the United States is currently just over 1,400 and the average of daily infections is just under 160,400.
As of Sunday, 93,238 Americans were hospitalized with the virus, according to the COVID Tracking Project.
The hospitalization rate – now at the highest level since the start of the pandemic – comes after weeks of rising infection rates across the country, with 16 states reporting record seven-day averages for new daily cases on Thursday and Friday.
Dr Celine Gounder, a member of President-elect Joe Biden’s COVID-19 advisory committee, issued a serious warning about the spikes coming on Saturday.
“We fully anticipate that in about a week or two after Thanksgiving, we will first see an increase in cases, then about a week or two later, you will start to see an increase in hospitalizations, and then a week or two after that, you “I’m going to start seeing deaths,” Gounder told CBS News, noting that symptoms of the virus can develop for up to 14 days after exposure.
“Unfortunately, this means that many people who celebrated with family, with friends on Thanksgiving will end up in hospitals, in intensive care units on Christmas and New Years,” she said. added.
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