‘ONE LAST CHANCE’
● Blaz warns of city COVID surge ● U. S. hits 10 million infections ● Biden forms plan to fight disease
Mayor de Blasio warned Monday that the city has “one last chance to stop a second wave” of the deadly coronavirus as the holidays approach — floating the possibility of citywide restrictions as the nation tops 10 million cases.
With the latest average infection rate at 2.2% in the five boroughs — above a key threshold the city had set — the mayor called on New Yorkers to avoid travel if possible and limit festivities to small gatherings.
“Let’s be careful about trying to predict exact time lines because in a sense, that takes away the role of the people,” de Blasio said, encouraging residents to be mindful and take COVID-19 precautions seriously. “This is not something that happens to us and we have no impact on. … The more people wear masks, practice social distancing — all those basics — the more we’re able to fight back that second wave.
“God forbid, [if] this continued and we had a full-blown second wave, it means a lot more restrictions,” he added.
De Blasio said he is closely monitoring the city’s metrics as more than 1,000 cases have been recorded daily for nearly a week. He had previously threatened to halt indoor restaurant dining if the city’s seven-day positivity rate reached 2%, a threshold met last week.
Meanwhile, coronavirus restrictions are being eased in some Brooklyn neighborhoods as Gov. Cuomo said that the state is keeping an eye on an alarming rise in cases across upstate New York.
Southern Brooklyn areas that saw protests erupt as schools were shuttered, religious gatherings limited and businesses closed have “made great progress” in recent weeks, the governor said.
“Brooklyn was quite a fuss when we made it a red zone,” Cuomo said during a phone conference. “People didn’t like the restrictions, but it worked.”
The “red zone” is being lifted for parts of the borough, which will move to an “orange zone,” a less restrictive “microcluster” categorization that allows restaurants to again offer outdoor dining, with a four-person maximum per table, and limits religious services to 33% capacity with a max of 25 people.
Gatherings in the orange zone are limited to 10 people, whether indoors or outdoors.
Staten Island, which has reported a significant uptick in cases, is not yet under consideration for renewed lockdown measures, but the state is keeping an eye on the borough.
“We're watching the numbers and anywhere it’s justified, we’ll do a microcluster,” Cuomo said.
The governor, when asked about the potential of broader measures, stood by the state’s “microcluster” plan and pointed to other states that are experiencing staggering increases in cases.
“It’s a surge to us. It’s not a surge to anyone else,” Cuomo said, noting that ultimately it’s up to the state, not the city, to make a determination on restrictions. “Staten Island’s numbers, our red zones, are lower than most other states.
“So it’s not a surge. It’s only a surge in our mind, your relative index,” he added.
The statewide positivity rate, which hovered around 1% for much of the late summer and early fall, was 2.8% Sunday, according to the governor.
Another 26 New Yorkers died from the virus while 1,400 more are currently hospitalized, including 282 in an ICU and 125 who are intubated.
Across the U.S., more than 10 million people have now been confirmed to be infected with coronavirus as the pandemic accelerates at an alarming pace.
President-elect Joe Biden, only two days after being declared the ictor over President Trump, nveiled a newly appointed OVID-19 advisory board onday as part of his transition fforts. The group is led by a umber of established public ealth officials and staffed by a ost of doctors and current and rmer government officials. Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer lso reported Monday that a coronavirus vaccine the compay is working on is 90% effective t preventing the deadly virus, eaning it may apply later this onth for emergency-use aproval from the Food and Drug dministration.
Cuomo called Pfizer’s anouncement “great news,” but cautioned again that he has “serious questions” about the Trump administration’s plan for distributing a vaccine.
Upstate, the governor announced new microcluster zones in parts of Erie, Monroe, and Onondaga counties, all of which will be designated as “yellow zones.”
Cuomo said the state is entering a “new phase of COVID” and warned rolling microclusters will be the norm heading into the winter. “This is going to be the constant for the foreseeable future. Every few days we will say this place became a microcluster. This place is no longer a microcluster,” he said.