Hochul touts ‘glimmer of hope’ on COVID-19 wave as she tightens upstate hospital restrictions
COVID-battered New York State may be seeing a “glimmer of hope” in the recent Omicron-fueled surge as cases of the disease appear to have hit a plateau, new data from city and state authorities shows.
“Looks like we might be cresting over that peak,” the Gov. Kathy Hochul said during a press briefing from her office in Manhattan.
The state Health department recorded 48,686 positive cases – down roughly 40,000 from Friday’s 90,132 recorded positive case count.
Figures from the city Health Department also show the Big Apple is now averaging roughly 33,000 new cases a day over the last seven days — down 19 percent from the all-time Omicron high of 41,000 new cases on average last week.
“Cases are slowing down. The rate of increase is slowing down. But they’re still high. They’re still high, but we are not at the end,” said Hochul.
“But I wanted to say that this is, to me, a glimmer of hope, a glimmer of hope and a time we desperately need that.”
New hospitalizations across the city have also begun to trend down too, dropping to an average of 655 new admissions daily, a decline from the 800-plus daily reported the week before. However, that figure is still far above its pre-Omicron levels.
“So those numbers are continuing to go up, but the rate of increase is slowing, and that is very encouraging,” said Hochul. “Clearly what the trends are showing us at downstate, looks like it’s improving. It is improving at a faster rate.”
Hospitalizations statewide have continued a steady upward climb, as 12,540 individuals were hospitalized as of Monday, compared to 11,843 reported at the end of last week, according to state figures.
“Upstate, the numbers are continuing to go up without a doubt. So we think that Upstate is about two weeks behind downstate,” said Hochul.
Statewide, 36 percent of patients who tested positive for COVID-19 were admitted to hospitals for causes other than the virus — meaning they suffered an ailment such as a broken leg and happened to test positive for COVID-19 — including 49 percent of such admission in the Big Apple.
Statistics released last week revealed that more than 40 percent of the state’s hospitalized coronavirus-infected patients were admitted for “non-COVID reasons.”
Another 160 individuals succumbed to the virus on Monday – representing a slight increase from Friday’s 154 death count.
Hochul also ordered all hospitals in three upstate regions where vaccination uptake has lagged – the Finger Lakes, Central New York and Mohawk Valley — to suspend elective surgeries because the facilities there are “overwhelmed.”
“We have to make another shift, because we have to create regional infrastructure, regional capacity, and the way we do that is to temporarily cease elective surgeries, not just in the hospitals that are below 10 percent [capacity] but in the neighboring hospitals, because I have to have the ability to transfer people to other hospitals when the hospital that they present themselves at can’t have them,” she said.
“These are areas where we’ve identified overwhelmed hospitals.”
The new sweeping measure comes after she on Saturday announced a halt to elective surgeries in 40 hospitals, mostly located in the trio of regions, in accordance with an executive order issued in late November that curbed non-such surgeries for hospitals with at or below 10 percent of available staffed bed capacity.
Meanwhile, the health commissioner announced that the state will be changing its COVID-19 contact tracing practices, effectively phasing it out entirely due to the practice being made obsolete by the winter, Omicron-driven surge in cases.
“The big change for New Yorkers is, that if you test positive, you should no longer expect a call from your health department,” said Dr. Mary Bassett, explaining that contact-tracing staff will be dedicated toward testing and vaccination.
The state’s new approach will entail “less active outreach” and “more self-management” that allows for “more flexibility” for when someone is exposed to COVID-19 or tests positive for it.
