NYC COVID Cases Nearly Triple In Past Month, Data Shows

NEW YORK CITY — Mayor Eric Adams isn’t alone in getting a surprise COVID-19 diagnosis.

New daily cases have nearly tripled since March 1, reaching a peak of 2,477 in a single day last week, according to New York health department data.

New York City’s seven-day average of cases stands at 1,590, and that metric is marked by city health officials as “increasing.”

Among the mini-surge of new cases was Mayor Eric Adams, who revealed his positive diagnosis this weekend. He’s currently isolating with mild symptoms, and emphasized the city is still in good shape in the seemingly never-ending fight against the coronavirus.

“We've come so far in our fight against #COVID19 and make no mistake: we are winning,” he tweeted. “Vaccines and antiviral treatments are saving lives from this formidable foe.”

The spike in new cases comes at a potentially worrisome time for New Yorkers.

Many restrictions, including mask and vaccine mandates, have been eased or lifted in recent weeks. And an even-more-contagious subvariant of omicron dubbed BA.2 now accounts for most cases worldwide, according to the World Health Organization.

BA.2 represented 68 percent of new cases detected in New York between March 13 and March 24, state health department data shows. CDC data indicates the number could be higher — it accounted for 84 percent of cases tested from a region including New York and New Jersey from March 27 to April 2.

The rise of BA.2 coincides with an overall spike in COVID-19 cases in recent weeks.

After reaching nearly 50,000 cases in a single day during the omicron surge around the New Year, cases dropped to just below 400 in late February. By last week, they rose to 2,000 a day, data shows.

Jay Varma, a former senior health adviser for the city, recently highlighted research that indicates a 33 percent chance COVID-19 cases could rise from a “low” alert level to “medium” by next week.

“For individuals, consider this like a forecast for rain next weekend: based on your risk tolerance, you can decide whether you want to change your plans based on an X% chance of rain?” he tweeted.

“But, unlike the weather, humans can change the future of an epidemic if they act together.”