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- “In this case we weather the storm. We are prepared with a high vaccination rate already and a strong health care system,” de Blasio said.
- The mayor also announced plans to offer residents a $100 incentive if they get their COVID-19 booster dose at any state-run site.
- Over the last seven days, an average of nearly 9,300 new COVID-19 cases were reported in New York City, de Blasio said, noting that that number will continue to increase in the next few weeks.
Outgoing New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) vowed not to impose any new COVID-19 lockdowns as the omicron variant fuels a surge of cases in the city and nationwide.
During a news conference Tuesday, de Blasio said the city can’t have schools and businesses close their doors like in the early days of the pandemic.
“Adamantly, I feel this: no more shutdowns. We’ve been through them. They were devastating. We can’t go through it again,” de Blasio said during a news conference Tuesday.
“In this case we weather the storm. We are prepared with a high vaccination rate already and a strong health care system. We are prepared to get through and we need to work together to get through these weeks and come out the other side and continue our recovery with no shutdowns,” he said.
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The mayor also announced plans to offer residents a $100 incentive if they get their COVID-19 booster dose at any state-run site starting Tuesday and going through the end of the year. Nearly 13 million vaccine doses have been administered in the city since the start of the pandemic.
“Vaccination is the way to protect ourselves against omicron, vaccination is the way to continue our recovery, vaccination the way for people to live their lives again, vaccination equals freedom,” he said.
Over the last seven days, an average of nearly 9,300 new COVID-19 cases were reported in New York City, de Blasio said, noting that that number will continue to increase in the next few weeks.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Monday said the omicron variant now makes up a majority of cases in the U.S. at 73.2 percent.
The omicron variant is highly transmissible, and health officials are preparing for a large wave of infections in the coming weeks. People who are vaccinated and those with booster shots, however, are well protected against severe disease from the variant, according to health experts.
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