Mayor Bill de Blasio warned Thursday of a spike in cases across the five boroughs, while Gov. Phil Murphy called his state’s high positivity rate “unacceptable” and hinted at the possibility of new closures and restrictions. .
The Garden State has seen nearly 6,500 new cases since Governor Murphy’s last COVID briefing on Monday, plus hospitalizations are three times higher than seven weeks ago.
While the numbers in New York City are not as high as in the neighboring state, the threshold exceeded 600 new cases for the third day in a row and the count is increasing with each report.
The mayor, who described the latest numbers as “real concern,” said Thursday that parts of Staten Island (zip codes 10305 and 10314) are beginning to see a significant increase. When asked by reporters if the county required new restrictions, De Blasio said those areas don’t represent such a serious increase compared to Brooklyn and Queens last month.
He did not rule out the need for new restrictions, but it will be the state that decides. Meanwhile, De Blasio said hyperlocated tests will be conducted on Staten Island, as has been done in other areas.
The mayor said health officials are deploying a hyperlocal response to deal with the spike.
“We have a challenge. We have identified it and we are acting accordingly,” he said. The president urged residents of those areas to get tested.
Staten Island, according to the latest state report, has the highest seven-day positivity rate of the five counties by a considerable amount (2.5 percent).
On Thursday, the city’s average daily cases topped 600 (633) for the third time in three days, though new daily hospital admissions fell below 100 after hitting a recent high of 114 a day earlier.
The seven-day positivity average, which De Blasio calls the “most objective measure” of the city’s position in its fight against the coronavirus, stood at 1.81 percent on Thursday, down from 1.74 percent. the previous day.
De Blasio warned that service in the interior could be closed again in all five counties if that rate of change reaches 2 percent. That would also depend on the governor, who continues to see progress in the remaining areas of the state’s red zone.
The so-called red zones, which experience total closures and remain in place in parts of Brooklyn and Rockland County, have seen marked progress over the past month.
The moving average positivity in Brooklyn’s red zone is 3.45 percent, down from 4.14 percent the week before and 5.86 percent three weeks earlier.
Rockland County’s red light district has seen slower improvement, with some increases along the way, but its average positivity rate of 3.63 percent as of Wednesday is significantly lower than the 9.77 percent it saw from 4 to October.
Some of the 10 regions of the state are beginning to see their positivity rates rise. Cuomo noted that western New York, which has a mobile positivity rate of 2.6 percent, is an area of particular concern.
The consequences of the increases in cases are beginning to be more evident. Across the state, COVID hospitalizations are in the middle of a two-week span of above 1,000 for the first time since that streak was snapped in June. Wednesday hospitalizations were the highest since June 18 (1,253).
“The increase in cases across the country and the world is a stark reminder that this pandemic is far from over, and while we are doing a good job keeping our positivity rate comparatively low, the numbers in western New York are a caution flag, “Cuomo said.
Cuomo divided the state into 10 regions for testing and tracking positivity rates to identify potential hot spots.
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