New York Mayor does not rule out canceling New Year’s Eve parties after progress of the omicron variant

The mayor of New York, Bill de Blasio, does not rule out canceling the New Year’s Eve festivities in the famous Times Square, given the large increase, in absolute and relative terms, of positive cases of covid-19 due to the fast transmission of the omicron variant.

Yes OK De Blasio Until today he had remained reluctant to any restriction to these festivities – on Friday he said that they would be maintained even if that meant requiring proof of vaccination from a million attendees – today he was open to reconsidering the situation and admitted that the issue “Is under discussion” and what will it take “A decision before Christmas.”

“We are examining the new challenge we face. It is an outdoor event and for vaccinated only, (but) we are considering other ways to approach it, even with the current rules that could be made tougher, so the discussion continues and we work closely with the sponsors (Times Square Alliance) to see the best way to proceed ”, said the mayor at a press conference.

This was the only possible restriction he referred to De Blasio at the press conference, when the city and state of New York observe a progressive increase in cases: for the third day, today the state exceeded 20,000 cases of new positives (they totaled 22,478), and the percentage of positivity did not stop to grow, to stand today at 8.41% (almost two points more than on Friday, when it was 6.58%).

De Blasio recognized that “A substantial increase in the number of cases and a rapid increase in that number is expected”; However, he wanted to be optimistic and spoke of a peak of several weeks: “We hope it will be a matter of weeks, and then we will see that this begins to calm down”, predicted.

For the moment, this constant increase in cases has created considerable alarm among the population, which in recent days has shown up in long lines to take the free tests that are practiced in medical centers and mobile units, creating long lines of hundreds of meters and waits of several hours.

About, By Blasio He said that the Mayor’s Office is reinforcing the number of detection centers and that by next Tuesday there will be 30 fixed and 93 mobile units.

At no time did he refer De Blasio to total or partial closures of places or activities, neither work nor leisure, in a city that lives largely from the entertainment business, whether in restaurants, theaters or bars, in which the certificate of vaccination.

Last Monday, a new regulation came into force to make the mask mandatory in most closed places, under penalty of a fine of up to $ 1,000.

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