New York reported 12,944 new coronavirus cases, the biggest one-day increase since January, of which 5,084 are in New York City.
With this New York's Covid-19 hospitalizations have also increased by 70% since the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, propelling authorities and businesses alike to reassess their policies in a bid to blunt a winter virus hike and the onset of the new omicron strain, reports NDTV.
Governor Kathy Hochul on Tuesday said that increase in hospitalizations across New York -- along with a 58% hike in cases per 100,000 people during the same span of time -- was the impetus for a new statewide indoor mask mandate for businesses without a vaccine requirement. While infections and hospitalizations had been rising mostly in upstate New York earlier in the month, the surging trend levels are now present across the state.
Hochul said the new omicron variant didn't factor directly into her mask mandate decision but that it's an issue of concern. The state has reported 38 omicron cases, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the variant now accounts for 3% of all sequenced infections in the U.S., up from 0.1% in early December.
"If I sound a little frustrated, perhaps I am," Hochul said at a briefing on Tuesday in New York City. "Despite our desires to have this behind us, we aren't quite there yet."
New York is among the most vaccinated states in the United States, with 70.5% of people fully inoculated compared to the U.S. average of 60.9%, according to the Bloomberg Vaccine Tracker.
