New York City enters higher virus-risk level
New York City entered a higher risk level for the coronavirus this week, a troubling reminder that the pandemic is not over and that the virus still has the power to harm New Yorkers.
The city moved into the medium, or yellow, risk category for virus transmission as cases continued their steady rise, a development that could trigger the return of public health restrictions, although they are not required to be reinstated at this point.
The city is now seeing nearly 2,500 new cases per day, a significant jump from about 600 daily cases in early March. The latest rise, fueled by the highly contagious omicron subvariant known as BA.2, does not rival the first omicron surge in December and January, but recorded case levels are as high as they were when the delta variant swept through the city last year.
What’s more, case levels in New York and around the country are probably much higher than the official statistics because many residents are testing at home, and positive at-home tests are not typically included in official tallies.
Mayor Eric Adams will face difficult decisions over whether to bring back mask and vaccine mandates at a time when he is focused on the city’s economic recovery and workers are returning to offices.
Adams has emphasized that hospitalizations and deaths remain low. There are currently more than 50 new hospitalizations and four or five deaths on average in the city each day. In January, new hospitalizations rose to 1,000 per day and deaths to more than 120 per day.
Adams, a Democrat who took office in January, appears reluctant to bring back mandates.
Profits soaring in first quarter
COVID-19 vaccine and treatment sales helped Pfizer breeze past Wall Street’s firstquarter expectations, as the drugmaker’s profit grew 61%. The coronavirus vaccine Comirnaty, which has been Pfizer’s top seller for about a year, brought in more than $13 billion in sales in the quarter. The pill treatment Paxlovid, which launched late last year, added another $1.5 billion.
All that helped company revenue swell 77%, compared with last year’s first quarter, when vaccine sales were still ramping up.
Overall, Pfizer on Tuesday posted net income of $7.86 billion, and adjusted earnings of $1.62 per share in the first quarter, easily topping the $1.49 projected by industry analysts, according to a survey by FactSet. Revenue was $25.66 billion, also beating Wall Street expectations for $24.1 billion.
PUERTO RICO COVID surging after limits lifted
The coronavirus is surging in Puerto Rico, with new cases being reported at a per capita rate more than six times the national average. The spike began just five days after the island lifted all its pandemic restrictions.
Puerto Rico has reached a seven-day average of 4,000 reported cases a day, more than 3,700 of them first-time infections — up from fewer than 200 new cases a day in early March.
Though the island accounts for less than 1% of the United States population, it is reporting 7% of the nation’s new cases.
New case reports started climbing on March 15, five days after Gov. Pedro Pierluisi lifted all coronavirus restrictions in Puerto Rico, including requirements for patrons to show proof of vaccination to enter indoor venues and for travelers arriving in Puerto Rico to show a recent negative test.
MASKS CDC endorses use on planes, trains
U.S. health officials on Tuesday restated their recommendation that Americans wear masks on planes, trains and buses, despite a court ruling last month that struck down a national mask mandate on public transportation. Americans age 2 and older should wear well-fitting masks while on public transportation, including in airports and train stations, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended, citing the current spread of the coronavirus and projections of future COVID-19 trends.
For months, the Transportation Security Administration had been enforcing a requirement that passengers and workers wear masks.
The government had repeatedly extended the mandate, and the latest one had been set to expire May 3. But a federal judge in Florida struck down the rule on April 18.
CHINA Beijing tightens restrictions
Residents in Beijing remained on edge Tuesday as authorities announced new measures to contain a small but growing outbreak of coronavirus cases, in an effort to avoid a lockdown like the one imposed in Shanghai. Beijing on Tuesday reported 53 new locally transmitted cases, bringing the total from the recent outbreak to 453. The case count remains relatively low compared with that of Shanghai, which reported 5,669 new cases.
At the height of its outbreak last month, Shanghai was reporting as many as 27,000 cases a day.
On Tuesday, the government ordered the closure of indoor museum exhibitions, including those at the Palace Museum, one of the city’s marquee tourist destinations.
Commuters entering and leaving Beijing now are also required to show proof of a negative coronavirus test taken within the last 48 hours, or a green health code on the government app that China uses to track an individual’s risk of COVID-19.