New York state records 44,000 cases of Covid in a single day and hospitalizations rise: Gov. Hochul cuts isolation time for vaccinated critical care workers with breakthrough infections to five days
- City’s latest record was hit on Christmas Eve
- On December 23, New York recorded 38,835 cases
- That was up by almost 10,000 from December 22
New York shattered its COVID cases record for the third day running, recording an enormous 44,000 new cases on Christmas Eve.
The numbers were shared by State Governor Kathy Hochul at a Friday morning press conference. She blamed the huge spike on the Omicron variant, estimated to be behind 92% of new infections in the Empire State, and said: ‘This is a very, very contagious variant.’ But Hochul also struck a note of optimism, insiting ‘This isn’t March 2020,’ when New York was inundated with COVID cases and thousands of deaths in weeks.
On Friday, Hochul also said that essential workers in New York now only have to isolate for five days after they test positive for COVID if they’re vaccinated and have suffered a so-called breakthrough infection. She says she is doing so to try and tackle staffing shortages blamed on current 10 day isolation rules.
NY Governor Kathy Hochul is pictured announcing the latest record-breaking COVID figures on Christmas Eve
People line up for a COVID testing mobile clinic in Harlem on Christmas Eve, amid record-breaking coronavirus diagnoses across the Empire State
Hochul’s announcement came around 18 hours after her Thursday evening update, which saw 38,835 new COVID diagnoses across the Empire State, a record at the time, and up by 10,000 cases from December 22, when 28,924 infections were recorded.
New York is once again America’s COVID epicenter, although hospitalizations remain far lower than they were at the height of the first wave in Spring 2020.
Back then, around 26 per cent of all people in New York City who tested positive for COVID were admitted to hospital. Now just 2.1 people per 100,000 end up requiring medical treatment.
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