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N.Y.C. Is ‘Winning’ the Fight Against Covid-19, Mayor Says

Mayor Eric Adams of New York City expressed optimism in the fight against the Omicron surge, citing drops in the average number of cases recorded daily and hospitalizations.

We want to just give you some good news on the Covid front. The level of cases in New York City, they are declining. They are declining. We know that there’s work to do, and that they still remain a very high level. But we’re seeing a leveling off, and we’re seeing a decline because of what you did. You responded accordingly to this threat. But New Yorkers, we have not won yet. We have more to do as I want to continue to say that over and over again. But let’s be clear on this: We are winning. We are winning. And we are going to win because we’re resilient.

Mayor Eric Adams said on Tuesday that New York City was winning its war against the Omicron surge, noting that the numbers of coronavirus cases and hospitalizations, while still extremely high, have started to drop.

Mr. Adams encouraged New Yorkers to continue to get vaccinated and wear masks.

“Let’s be clear on this — we are winning,” the mayor said at a news conference at City Hall. “We are going to win because we’re resilient.”

Mr. Adams, a Democrat in his third week in office, pointed to the average number of cases recorded daily, which has fallen from a known peak of more than 40,000 to less than 20,000, and to hospitalizations, which have fallen from a daily peak of about 6,500 people hospitalized citywide on Jan. 11 to about 5,800 patients on Jan. 16.

While Mr. Adams has expressed optimism about case numbers and encouraged workers to return to offices, experts say New Yorkers should remain careful. The number of known cases is still much higher than last winter, when there was an average of roughly 6,500 cases a day, according to city data.

During the devastating first wave of the coronavirus in the spring of 2020, testing was scarce, leaving many cases unreported.

New deaths, a lagging indicator, have been increasing, and have averaged about 100 per day in recent days, which is higher than they have been since May 2020.

A wave of Omicron cases may be cresting in the northeastern United States, but the number of virus patients nationwide is at a record high and climbing, overwhelming hospitals whose staffs have been hollowed out by the virus. On Sunday, Dr. Vivek Murthy, the U.S. surgeon general, warned that the Omicron surge had…