New York coronavirus cases top 20,000 for daily record as shutdowns spread
- The state’s confirmed Omicron cases have jumped from 50 to 250 in a matter of days
- Some Broadway shows, including Hamilton, had to be closed after outbreaks among staff, and several universities, including Cornell, have moved final exams online
New York state is experiencing a dramatic spike in Covid-19 cases, driving a fresh wave of school closings, work-from-home migrations and business disruptions.
The 21,027 new cases reported Friday surpassed the previous record of 19,942 set in January. Of the roughly 263,500 people tested, 7.98 per cent were positive for the virus.
The surge shifted health officials’ focus to hospitalisations and deaths, key gauges of the pandemic that are not – as yet – rising commensurately.
Patients hospitalised with Covid-19 in the state are at about 3,800. While that is more than double what they were in early November, it’s far short of the nearly 19,000 patients hospitalised in April 2020.
Deaths tell a similar story. There were 60 new fatalities reported on Friday. The number of deaths have increased in recent weeks but in the beginning of 2021 daily fatalities were consistently above 100, a total that has not been topped since February. In April 2020, New York deaths caused by the virus in a single day peaked near 800.