With the rise of the contagious Omicron variant, New York and New Jersey had the highest increase in cases ever.
With two very populated states being right next to each other and New York having so many cases specifically in its metropolitan area, it makes sense why these two states have the highest surge of cases right now.
On December 30th, 2021, New York had the highest number of COVID-19 cases it had ever had (74,000 positive cases in one day). New Jersey on December 29th had hit more than 20,000 cases for the first time.
Because of that, both states are experiencing a dramatic spike in hospitalizations. Many people expressed their concerns saying that this surge is the largest one yet. The last significant surge was in February of 2021. On the other hand, people are less concerned because the symptoms for the Omicron variant are less severe than other strains, and with new technology, like the COVID-19 vaccine, it will be easy to contain the cases.
According to officials, “Breakthrough hospitalizations are far rarer, state data shows, a testament to vaccines’ ongoing ability to prevent severe COVID-linked disease and death.” This means the COVID-19 cases depend on the vaccination rates.
According to New York Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Mary T. Bassett, more young people and children need to get vaccinated. “That youngest age group, 5 to 11-year-olds who’ve been eligible for vaccination for about a month now, we still are seeing too few children vaccinated, something like 30% have gotten their first jab. That’s a number that we need to see go up; we want people to protect their children.”
After the holidays and many holiday parties, mainly Christmas and New Years’ gatherings, cases are expected to increase more rapidly. Many schools in New Jersey have switched too remote learning up until January 18th, 2022, so that the students and staff could stay home for the two-week quarantine period after the holidays.
Also, due to the continuous increase in cases, getting tested for the Coronavirus is hard to find for both rapid (antigen) tests and PCR tests. As a solution, many people have been able to order at-home rapid tests online so they can test at home without going out of their house, which is certainly something we did not have a year ago!
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