By: Ilana Siyance
New York City is moving forward with a guide to re-opening, even as some experts are cautioning about variants to the COVID-19 virus.
As per the NY Times, Gov. Andrew Cuomo recently announced: indoor dining can be expanded to 35 percent capacity, an end to the 11 p.m. curfew movie theaters and the like, allowing a limited number of attendees at professional sporting events, and a fresh start for yoga classes and other indoor fitness activities. “Covid’s coming down, vaccine rates are going up,” Gov. Cuomo had said on Thursday at a news conference. “Start to look to the future aggressively, and let’s get back to life and living and get that economy running, because it is safe.”
The accelerated vaccine rollout has served to lower rates of new Coronavirus cases, and following the post-holiday spike, the daily rate has now plateaued in both NYS and NYC. New York City’s seven-day average of cases has dropped to below 2,700, compared to 4,043 in the last week of February. Death rates and hospitalization rates are also pointing downwards. Still, the presence of COVID-19 variants may pose an increased risk for an uptick in the short-term. While there is not yet sufficient evidence, the variants may pose a threat to those who have been vaccinated and those who have already been infected. “Our health care team has said very clearly this is not what they would have done,” Mayor Bill de Blasio commented on Thursday, regarding the reopening of fitness centers. “The state just doesn’t care.”
A spokesman for the governor, Jack Sterne , shot back saying the state had not linked any coronavirus outbreaks to gyms since they reopened last year elsewhere in the state, or fitness studios which were allowed to operate outside of the city and in neighboring states for months now—provided that gym-goers wear masks and follow other safety measures. He also boasted NY’s increasing number of vaccinations—in which over two million city residents having received at least one dose, as of last week. “As the governor has said, we see reopening as a series of valves, and if the reality on the ground changes, we will take swift action to tighten up restrictions,” said Sterne.
As per the NY Times, the main unknown factors worrying experts, and posing a risk to the progress, are the two COVID-19 variants– B.1.1.7, which was first found in Britain and is highly transmissible; and B.1.526, which was first detected in NYC and seems more resistant to existing vaccines.
