NYC COVID Cases Creep Above 3K In A Day As New Subvariant Spreads

NEW YORK CITY — New York City topped 3,000 new COVID-19 cases one day after it entered a "medium" risk alert, according to data.

The case numbers reported for Tuesday weren't the only bad coronavirus news that day — a CDC estimate indicates that a new omicron subvariant has become dominant in the city.

The subvariant dubbed BA.2.12.1 now accounts for 61.9 percent of cases in a region covering New York and New Jersey, according to the CDC. It's one of a swirl of spreading omicron subvariants that experts are tracking.

Jay Varma, a former senior health adviser for the city, this week warned that COVID-19 cases appeared to be back on the rise after briefly plateauing. He attributed some of that increase to recent holiday gathering.

"I worry about a 2nd reason: sub-variants with more transmissibility &, possibly, immune escape," Varma tweeted. "NYS has reported this upstate, which means it’s definitely here."

Despite the COVID-19 increases, Mayor Eric Adams cast cold water Monday on they could lead to renewed mandates for masking and other restrictions.

"We’re not there yet," he said. "We can’t close down the city again, if we make the right decisions we’re not going to have to worry about doing that."