New COVID-19 cases leaped 36% in New York in the week ending Sunday amid rising concerns about a new COVID variant spreading more quickly in the Northeast and West than other parts of the U.S.
In New York, a total of 15,412 new COVID cases were reported last week, up from 11,323 new cases the prior week. A growing share of the infections are being caused by the new BA.2 variant, which is expected to soon become the dominant COVID strain across the country.
In New York, BA.2 made up nearly 39% of cases the week ending March 12, up from about 13% on Feb. 26, the latest state data show. It is a different version of the omicron strain responsible for the most recent winter surge.
While the tally of COVID cases in New York remained well below its winter-surge peak — which hit 90,000 cases in one day in early January — authorities are closely watching the recent uptick in infections after BA.2 triggered new surges in some European countries.
New York ranked 12th among the states where coronavirus was spreading the fastest on a per-person basis, a USA TODAY Network analysis of Johns Hopkins University data shows.
Nationally, COVID cases decreased about 13% from the week before, with 209,244 cases reported. Across the country, 11 states had more cases in the latest week than they did in the week before.
New York’s latest increase in COVID cases comes after the state ended its indoor mask mandate for schools on March 2. In contrast, infections plummeted in the weeks after New York lifted the indoor mask mandate for businesses and other public spaces on Feb. 10.
Gov. Kathy Hochul last week extended the state’s COVID-related state of emergency, which was set to expire, through April 15.
She signed an executive order that sustained the state government’s disaster emergency powers, which allow state officials to continue various efforts to support COVID-19 vaccine distributions and enforce other regulations intended to limit the virus’ spread.
During a briefing Monday in Albany, Hochul and state Health Commissioner Dr. Mary Bassett said they anticipate BA.2 would result in a far less severe increase in COVID cases than the original omicron strain.
“We’re not sounding any alarms here; People continue on with your lives,” Hochul said, adding she has no immediate plan to change course from the ongoing push to re-open society.
Indoor mask mandates, however, will remain in effect in public transit, health care, nursing homes and limited other congregate settings, she noted.
“It’s no surprise to us that we are seeing COVID cases tick up,” Bassett said, adding “We are seeing this as society opens up more and as this virus continues to adapt to human beings and our vaccines.”
The pace that BA.2 was spreading in New York and other states, however, has been more gradual than other European countries that recently faced major surges linked to the variant, Bassett said, suggesting it could follow the path of other prior strains that failed to trigger a wave in the U.S.
Still, Hochul said she plans to keep state-run COVID-19 testing and vaccination sites open as a precaution, citing New York’s strategy to closely monitor new cases and, if necessary, ramp up its response.
“We’ve never taken our foot off the gas when it comes to our preparedness,” she said, adding state officials continue to urge New Yorkers to get vaccinated and boosted against COVID.
More:What you need to know about BA.2
How COVID is spreading in New York
- In the latest week, Westchester County faced a 57% jump in COVID cases, reporting 890 cases and three deaths in the latest week.
- Rockland County’s cases surged 57%, reporting 240 cases and zero deaths.
- Putnam County’s cases increased nearly 33%, reporting 53 cases and zero deaths.
- Dutchess County’s cases leaped 34%, reporting 149 cases and four deaths.
- Upstate, Monroe County’s cases increased 26%, reporting 364 cases and three deaths.
- Broome County’s cases dropped nearly 29%, reporting 108 cases and one death.
- Oneida County’s cases declined 4%, reporting 167 cases and zero deaths.
Overall statewide, weekly case counts rose in 35 of 62 counties from the previous week, while the best declines were seen in:
- Broome County, with 108 cases from 151 a week earlier.
- Warren County, with 40 cases from 62.
- Cattaraugus County, with 47 cases from 67.
Within New York, the worst weekly outbreaks on a per-person basis were in:
- Onondaga County with 227 cases per 100,000 per week.
- Hamilton County with 226.
- Franklin County with 210.
The Centers for Disease Control says high levels of community transmission begin at 100 cases per 100,000 per week.
>> See how your community has fared with recent coronavirus cases
In New York, 135 people were reported dead of COVID-19 in the week ending Sunday. In the week before that, 126 people were reported dead of COVID-19.
Studies have shown that BA.2 is “inherently more transmissible” than omicron BA.1, according to the World Health Organization.
What’s not yet known is if BA.2 causes severe illness as omicron BA.1 did, which prompted a rapid surge in cases, hospitalizations and deaths for a month before plummeting just as quickly.
While omicron BA.1 was considered milder than both COVID’s original strain and the delta variant, it led to a increase in U.S. COVID deaths: 60,000 in January 2022, twice the amount of deaths in November, according to the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.
New York ranked 7th among states in share of people receiving at least one COVID-19 vaccine shot, with 89.3% of its residents at least partially vaccinated. The national rate is 76.7%, a USA TODAY analysis of CDC data shows. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which are the most used in the United States, require two doses administered a few weeks apart.
In the week ending Tuesday, New York reported administering another 96,259 vaccine doses, including 25,305 first doses. In the previous week, the state administered 132,923 vaccine doses.
A total of 4,963,787 people in New York have tested positive for the coronavirus since the pandemic began, and 67,817 people have died from the disease, Johns Hopkins University data shows. In the United States 79,734,788 people have tested positive and 971,162 people have died.
>> Track coronavirus cases across the United States
New York’s COVID-19 hospital admissions falling
USA TODAY analyzed federal hospital data as of Friday, March 18.
Likely COVID patients admitted in the state:
- Last week: 2,065
- The week before that: 2,408
- Four weeks ago: 3,634
Likely COVID patients admitted in the nation:
- Last week: 42,952
- The week before that: 50,548
- Four weeks ago: 87,325
Hospitals in two states reported more COVID-19 patients than a week earlier, while hospitals in four states had more COVID-19 patients in intensive-care beds. Hospitals in five states admitted more COVID-19 patients in the latest week than a week prior, the USA TODAY analysis of U.S. Health and Human Services data shows.
The USA TODAY Network is publishing localized versions of this story on its news sites across the country, generated with data from Johns Hopkins University and the Centers for Disease Control. If you have questions about the data or the story, contact Mike Stucka at mstucka@gannett.com.
