NEW YORK (AP) — New York Metropolis Mayor Invoice de Blasio mentioned he’s dedicated to conserving the town open because it grapples with yet one more spike in coronavirus instances.
The Democratic mayor mentioned Tuesday that New York can’t see colleges and companies closed once more like the town did in 2020 when COVID-19 first unfold broadly.
De Blasio has confronted questions over the previous week about whether or not he would name for closures as a wave of latest instances fueled by the omicron variant has damaged over the town.
“Adamantly I really feel this: No extra shutdowns. We’ve been by them,” de Blasio mentioned at a digital information convention Tuesday. “They had been devastating. We are able to’t undergo it once more.”
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De Blasio, within the waning days of his time period as mayor, will determine by Christmas whether or not the annual New Yr’s Eve celebration in Occasions Sq. will proceed as deliberate. The occasion was small and socially distanced final yr however de Blasio had hoped to carry it this yr at “full power.” That was earlier than experiences of COVID-19 instances ramped up once more.
Whereas the destiny of the out of doors New Yr’s Eve occasion remained up within the air, De Blasio’s successor Eric Adams postponed his inauguration ceremony, scheduled for Jan. 1 indoors at Brooklyn’s Kings Theatre.
The mayor-elect issued an announcement Tuesday saying that the ceremony can be rescheduled for a later date “to prioritize” the well being of attendees, workers and reporters.
“It’s clear that our metropolis is going through a formidable opponent within the omicron variant of COVID-19, and that the spike in instances presents a critical threat to public well being,” Adams mentioned.
Two different Democratic officers, the town’s Comptroller-elect Brad Lander and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, had been additionally to take part within the ceremony and co-signed Adams’ assertion saying its postponement. Williams has been quarantining at residence after just lately testing constructive for COVID-19.
Adams will nonetheless take over as mayor on Jan. 1.
Within the meantime, de Blasio mentioned the town is ramping up testing however the greatest instrument to battle the pandemic stays getting folks vaccinated. De Blasio introduced the town would start providing a $100 money incentive to New Yorkers who get a booster shot of the COVID-19 vaccine beginning Tuesday and going by the tip of the yr.
Town had beforehand provided comparable incentives for folks to get their first vaccine doses.
De Blasio mentioned the federal authorities is predicted to assist arrange extra testing websites in New York Metropolis and the town will enhance its metropolis run websites, together with brick-and-mortar areas and cell testing vans.
As just lately as Dec. 13, the town had been averaging fewer than 3,600 new instances of COVID-19 every day. However after almost 50,000 folks examined constructive in simply 4 days, the common each day variety of infections had climbed to almost 9,500 as of Sunday — a rise of 175% in per week.
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Related Press author Michael R. Sisak contributed to this report.
