NYC Hospitalizations, BA5 Variant Infections Boom – NBC New York
What to Know
- Omicron subvariant BA.5 now accounts for an estimated 82% of COVID cases in the CDC’s New York region. It is more than four times as vaccine-resistant as its predecessor and has been linked to a heightened risk of reinfection and breakthrough cases and hospitalizations, state and national data show
- New York state COVID hospitalizations are at their highest total since mid-February; NYC’s rate has surged 70% in just the last month, according to state data, though Long Island’s still tops the charts
- Experts say the increases are associated with COVID variant BA.5; case rates are slowing as hospitalizations tick up, which likely reflects the dreaded lagging factor. But what will come next?
New York’s COVID hospitalization rate has soared to a five-month high, fueled by a New York City admission rate unseen since mid-February and a Long Island streak that has topped state charts daily for the last month at least, according to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s latest virus update. And these aren’t all mild cases, either.
Statewide, the hospitalization rate per 100,000 skyrocketed 50% between this time in June and now, with nearly 2,800 COVID patients admitted as of Wednesday. New York City’s number has boomed 70% in the same time period, while the number of COVID patients in intensive care units across the five boroughs grew by nearly two-fold.
Long Island’s rate of increase is also substantial (48.3% monthly increase) but markedly less than the others given its comparatively high sustained rate for almost all of July.
Those same two regions also recently notched half-year highs in reinfection rates as the so-called “worst version” of omicron yet — one shown not only to be more transmissible but more than four times as vaccine-evasive as its most vaccine-evasive predecessor — maintains its stranglehold on America.
COVID hospitalizations in New York hit their highest raw total since Feb. 18 a day ago, which while eyebrow-raising for some is tempered by the fact that fewer than 42% of those patients did not have COVID listed as one of the reasons for admission. In other words, the virus was discovered during routine testing and may not have been detected otherwise.
While no evidence indicates that BA.5 causes more severe illness from COVID than other strains, people who have never been vaccinated, and even fully vaccinated and boosted people who were last dosed in 2021, are seeing higher hospitalization rates from COVID than in recent months. New York state’s breakthrough hospitalization rate has risen each of the last six weeks and now stands at 1.67 per 100,000. The rate is nearly seven times higher for unvaccinated people.
Hospitalizations are up in several states after a surge in COVID-19 infections as subvariants of Omicron spread. And as Google search trends tell us, interest in boosters is high right now. “It is critically important to get boosted now, as we are in the midst of that BA.5 wave,” Dr. Aditi Nerurkar of Harvard Medical School tells LX News Now. Dr. Nerurkar brings us depth and context on the top-searched questions on this topic.
The last time hospitalization rates rose in such a…
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