Reached New York

Omicron is here

By ERIN DURKIN, ANNA GRONEWOLD and DEANNA GARCIA

Covid-19's Omicron variant has officially reached New York, with five cases of the strain confirmed in the state, including four in New York City.

In an eerie echo of the governor-mayor presser confirming the first case of Covid-19 in March 2020, Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said last night they wanted to inform the public as soon as they received word of the variant’s detection. But unlike those frantic early days, the two stressed that 1) they are actually working together and projecting “unity” and 2) New York has tools to fight whatever Omicron throws at us.

Instructions for New Yorkers don’t appear to be much different than what officials have been saying for days: Don’t panic, get your vaccines and boosters and mask indoors whenever you are able. Hochul said there’s not yet evidence that Omicron requires a different reaction than the previous variants. Asked about those deja vu vibes, de Blasio said: “It’s a very different world, thank God, than 2020.”

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul hold a joint press conference to update New Yorkers on the Omicron variant. City Hall, Thursday, December 2, 2021. 

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul hold a joint press conference to update New Yorkers on the Omicron variant. City Hall, Thursday, December 2, 2021. | Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office

The news was all but foretold earlier in the day, when health officials said a Minnesota man, whose case was detected by the health department in his home state, tested positive for the variant after traveling to New York City and attending the Anime NYC convention at the Javits Center (a place that had prior pandemic lives as a Covid-19 field hospital and a mass vaccination site).

The convention draws 50,000 people, though attendees were required to be vaccinated with at least one dose and wear masks. De Blasio said it’s safe to assume the variant is already spreading throughout the city. He and Hochul are both urging everyone who attended the convention to get tested while repeating a message we’ve heard a few times before: “No cause for alarm.”

Hochul, who has already been attacked by her gubernatorial primary opponents on her Covid-19 response, said she will avoid the heavy-handed, top-down approach of her predecessor. Any aggressive actions regarding mask or vaccination policies will be “surgical” — targeted to specific regions and in accordance with local officials, she said.

Do expect to see more Omicron cases in the coming days — probably “a lot more cases,” according to the mayor — but don’t expect any lockdowns, officials said. “I am not prepared to shut down schools or the economy at this time,” Hochul said. “I will not overreact and send this economy spiraling out of control once again.”