City urges many to stay home

With COVID surging and ICUs filling up, the de Blasio administration is urging older New Yorkers and people with underlying health problems to stay home as much as possible.

A Tuesday advisory from city Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi says they, their household members and caregivers should stay at home “except ... to travel to work or school, or for essential purposes including medical care, grocery shopping or pharmacy necessities.”

“Today I’m issuing a commissioner’s notice that warns at-risk New Yorkers about the growth in COVID and that urges appropriate precautions,” Chokshi said at a press conference alongside Mayor de Blasio. “That means stopping nonessential activities, staying in as much as possible and avoiding social activities outside of your household.”

The advisory applies to those 65 and older, Chokshi said, noting “the older one is, the greater your risk is.”

Underlying conditions that increase the risk of severe illness from the virus include cancer, heart problems and Type-2 diabetes, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The commissioner’s notice came amid a growing sense of crisis as COVID surges anew this winter.

As of Monday, the city’s COVID positivity rate was 4.14%, averaged out over seven days. The latest single-day COVID positivity rate was an alarming 5.72%, though Hizzoner noted fewer people got tested through the Thanksgiving holiday.

The positivity rate is the number of positive tests for a length of time divided by the total number of tests for the same time period.

Meanwhile, more COVID patients are heading to hospitals.

The latest number of people hospitalized for COVID was 1,100, according to Chokshi, double the level from three weeks earlier. Intensive care units are about two-thirds full, according to Dr. Mitchell Katz, CEO of NYC Health + Hospitals. He said unlike earlier this year, when hospitals faced dire shortages of ventilators and protective equipment, the city’s hospital system has enough supplies at the ready.

The de Blasio administration also called on New Yorkers to donate blood.

The city’s blood banks currently have enough supplies to last three days, compared to the target of maintaining seven days’ worth of blood, Hizzoner said.

Launching an effort to get 25,000 New Yorkers to donate blood by New Year’s Eve, he said those who do so will be eligible for prizes.