Nassau gets its first two omicron cases as New York State prepares for mask mandate
A person wears a face mask while riding on the subway in Queens on July 30. Credit: Justin Lane/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Nassau County's first two cases of the highly contagious omicron variant were identified over the weekend as New Yorkers geared up for a statewide mask mandate to go into effect on Monday, in an effort to battle the rising number of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations.
Figures released by the state on Sunday show 11,577 new cases of COVID-19, including 943 in Nassau County and 1,227 in Suffolk County. The seven-day average percentage of positive tests for COVID-19 on Long Island continued to tick up, with 6.49% on Saturday. Other parts of the state had higher seven-day averages, including western New York at 9.53%.
Four cases of the omicron variant had previously been detected in Suffolk County.
On Friday, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that masks will be required for all indoor public places and venues unless operators ask patrons to show proof of vaccination. It is in effect until at least Jan. 15.
"I did not want to have to do this," Hochul said Sunday during an appearance in upstate Hamburg to survey storm damage. "I was pleading with New Yorkers to get vaccinated. Many did, and I thank them and I'm grateful for them …
"But we still have a huge spike in cases, up 49% since Thanksgiving," she said. "Hospital capacity is what keeps me up at night. I've been in constant communication with our local hospitals here in Western New York. We saw this coming and I never wanted a situation where the beds are being filled with people on ventilators who are very sick because of COVID and therefore people with other life-threatening conditions like heart attacks are turned down."
There were 3,574 COVID-19 patients hospitalized statewide on Saturday compared with 1,854 on Nov. 11.
Hochul said she wanted to take some kind of action before the situation worsened and said asking businesses to adhere to a mask mandate or vaccine requirement is not overly burdensome, referring to the early days of pandemic and the ensuing lockdown.
"Remember those days and you couldn't go to work, you couldn't go to church, you couldn't go to school at all?" Hochul said. "That was a tremendous sacrifice … I'm not asking that. I'm just saying: Put on a mask. Just wear a mask."
The state said 60 New Yorkers died from COVID-19 on Saturday, including two in Nassau and one in Suffolk. Since the start of the pandemic, more than 47,000 New Yorkers have died from the disease.
A spokesman for the Diocese of Rockville Centre said Sunday it would require parishioners to wear masks.
"In accord with New York State Governor Kathy Hochul’s directive, parishes in the Diocese of Rockville Centre are instructing all parishioners (two years of age and older) to comply with the requirement to wear masks when participating in any activities on parish grounds," spokesman Sean Dolan said.
Dolan added in a statement: "We will continue to monitor and readjust as circumstances develop. We ask all people to pray for an end to the pandemic."
The omicrion variant, first detected in South Africa last month, has now been found in New York and 24 other states as of Sunday morning.
Booster shots could be key to warding off the impact of omicron, White House chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday.
During an appearance on ABC’s "This Week," Fauci said the omicron variant "appears to be able to evade" some of the protection offered by the initial doses of vaccines and other treatments, but booster shots provide "optimal protection" against the highly transmissible strain.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious-disease expert answers the media's questions on the omicron variant on Dec. 1. Credit: Jim Li Scalza/Pool/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
"It appears to be able to evade some of the immune protection of things like monoclonal antibodies, convalescent plasma and the antibodies that are reduced by vaccines," Fauci said. "That's the sobering news. The somewhat encouraging news is that preliminary data showed that when you get a booster … it raises the level of protection high enough that it does then do well against the omicron [variant]."
Asked if Americans should expect that booster shots will be necessary each year to keep the virus at bay, Fauci said "it’s tough to tell" because scientists need to study the efficacy of the current round of booster shots "over a period of months."
"If it becomes necessary to get yet another boost, then we'll just have to deal with it when that occurs," Fauci said. "I'm hoping, from an immunological standpoint, that that third shot of an mRNA [vaccine] and the second shot of a [Johnson & Johnson vaccine] will give a much greater durability of protection than just the six months or so that we're seeing right now."
Meanwhile, outgoing New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, making the rounds of the Sunday political talk show circuit, cited the omicron variant in defending the city’s recently announced vaccine mandate that requires all individuals working in the city’s private sector to be vaccinated by Dec. 27.
"Omicron is here. It's all over the country. This variant moves fast. We have to move faster," de Blasio said on CNN’s "State of the Union," where he debated Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R-Ark.) on the merits of a mandate.
De Blasio argued the mandates were key to keeping the city’s economy open, saying "the greatest threat to employment right now is that the omicron variant and the cold winter months are going to supercharge COVID and take us backwards."
Hutchinson, a proponent of vaccines, argued against the need for a mandate, saying government officials can increase vaccination rates via public education campaigns.
"Private businesses should be able to make the decision themselves," said Hutchinson, a moderate whose name has been floated as a potential 2024 presidential candidate. "Many might require of their employees to be vaccinated, but let's let them make that decision."
Appearing on Fox News Sunday, de Blasio, when pressed about his decision to enact the mandate before Mayor-elect Eric Adams takes office on Jan. 1, said previous mandates of public employees have helped drive up the city’s overall vaccination rate to 71%.
"Vaccination equals freedom because it allows people to get back to work, get back to their lives, be safe, wherever they are … it works and that's why we're continuing to deepen it," de Blasio said.
Lisa joined Newsday as a staff writer in 2019. She previously worked at amNewYork, the New York Daily News and the Asbury Park Press covering politics, government and general assignment.
