Many lights are going out again on Broadway: Since the Omikron variant in New York has caused a rapid increase in corona cases, more and more theaters have canceled their performances. With government aid, many houses had just recovered to such an extent that reopening paid off. Now so many employees are tested positive for Covid that shows like "The Lion King", "Moulin Rouge" or "Jagged Little Pill" refund tickets. Long lines of people form in front of the doctor's offices and the tents of the mobile testers, and some New Yorkers have to wait hours for a corona smear. Anyone who gets a third dose of vaccine "boosted" before New Year's Eve will receive a $ 100 reward.
There were 14,591 new cases in the city on Saturday, and around 190,000 new infections were reported nationwide over the weekend. Over 90 percent of New Yorkers who tested positive are said to have been infected with the Omikron variant - at the beginning of the month, the proportion was still below three percent. The city has thus once again become a center of the pandemic without any rigorous "lockdown" measures. However, theaters, libraries or restaurants close of their own accord for a few days if employees test positive for the virus. On Monday, for example, Apple closed its eleven stores in the city to the public and justified this with the increased risk of infection.
The reasons for the rapid increase in the number of cases are similar to those at the beginning of the pandemic.
Many New Yorkers live in cramped conditions, be it in large families or in shared apartments.
Hundreds of thousands work farther away from their neighborhoods and spend a lot of time on public transport every day - having a car is less common than in other parts of the country.
In addition, this time many people are no longer willing to drastically change their leisure time behavior.
Many bars and clubs have closed in the past two weeks, but the owners have made it clear that these are temporary measures - either because employees have tested positive or to protect them.
More and more children in the hospital
Unlike in spring 2020, the number of corona deaths is still comparatively low. Back then, up to 800 New Yorkers died every day - the current seven-day average is 19. The number of hospital admissions for Covid rose to over 5000 for the first time since February. Apparently, more and more children are getting seriously ill after being infected with the virus. Their number in the city quadrupled, from 22 hospitalized in early December to 109. In the entire state of New York at the beginning of the month, 70 children with Covid-19 were in a clinic, the last was 184.
According to media reports, most of these children are unvaccinated or have not yet received all of the vaccine doses.
The authorities now recommend immunization even under the age of eleven.
Although only 16.4 percent of five to eleven year olds in the state are vaccinated, the government wants to keep schools open and announced that it will distribute 3.5 million tests for students and teachers.