New York City has modified its plans for the New Year’s Eve celebration in Times Square. Not only will it limit access to fully vaccinated spectators, in addition to the mandatory use of masks, it would also reduce the number of New Yorkers and visitors clustered for the celebration.
The areas to observe the show will admit fewer people than anticipated, in order to allow for physical distancing, announced Mayor Bill de Blasio. However, the president did not specify the figure. Proof of complete vaccination with valid photo identification will be required, as previously announced by De Blasio.
The guidelines could change in the coming days, the mayor’s office warned. The event is outdoors, of course, and for fully vaccinated people only, but omicron’s staggering dominance over New York City in recent weeks means officials are making room for additional changes if needed before the next one. week.
“There is much to celebrate and these additional safety measures will keep the fully vaccinated crowd safe and healthy as we ring in the New Year,” de Blasio said in a statement.
In a previous, unrelated event, the mayor pointed out that omicron is a setback, but that does not mean that the paralysis of the city’s progress.
“We are not going to close. We are not going to back down. We are going to fight to get through this,” de Blasio said at an event in Brooklyn. The president reminded New Yorkers of the $ 100 cash offer that his administration is offering to those who receive the booster shot before Dec. 31.
Shortly before, the mayor reported nearly 11,500 new COVID cases, an increase of nearly 5% from the numbers he described as “staggering” a day earlier. De Blasio added another 198 hospitalizations to the count; Those rates, while rising in recent weeks, have been manageable and far less jarring than the skyrocketing number of cases.
The announcement comes just over a month after the outgoing mayor triumphantly declared that fully vaccinated crowds could return to Times Square to celebrate New Year’s Eve without limitation. It was a moment to consummate what de Blasio described as the epic and ongoing recovery of the five counties after an unthinkable human and economic loss from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Midnight on December 31 marks the end of De Blasio’s government. Hope was a much larger celebration, unlike New Years Eve 2020.
Both the Broadway Association and the Times Square Advertising Coalition, which host the New Year’s Eve party in Times Square, pleaded with the mayor on Tuesday to allow the celebration without drastic restrictions.
“Right now, all eyes are on New York City and a joyous, safe, vaccinated and mask-wearing outdoor celebration like New Year’s Eve in Times Square is exactly what everyone we need now more than ever to say goodbye to 2021, “the organizations said in a joint statement.
Last year’s New Year’s Eve celebration in Times Square was an event that required physical distancing, attended by small groups of essential workers. De Blasio said last month that he would return in “full force” to welcome 2022.
The only requirement would have been that attendees show proof of vaccination and those who cannot be vaccinated due to a disability show proof of a negative COVID-19 test.
De Blasio called omicron a “fast and temporary phenomenon” that is expected to increase in the coming weeks and then likely to dissipate. He noted that the majority of city residents are vaccinated, making the recent outbreak more manageable than when COVID-19 appeared in early spring 2020.
The city’s weekly average number of cases has risen nearly 139% from the previous four-week averages, Thursday’s data shows. Hospitalizations increased 20% in the same time period. Authorities have said that the vast majority of those most serious cases are people who are not vaccinated.
In the New York area, the CDC estimates that the prevalence of the variant has exceeded 90%.
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