NYC Marks 2 Years Since First Confirmed COVID-19 Case

NEW YORK CITY — Two years ago, New York City saw its first confirmed COVID-19 case — and everything changed.

Cases multiplied quickly, overwhelmed hospitals, caused thousands of deaths and sent frightened New Yorkers indoors to grapple with once-unthinkable new concepts such as "shelter in place," "lockdown," "testing," "masking" and "vaccine mandates."

Surges of COVID-19 ebbed and flowed over the months with holidays, new variants like delta and the sharp uptake of newly developed vaccines. Then the omicron variant struck, and new cases surpassed 46,000 in a single day.

But now the coronavirus has retreated to just 362 daily cases in the city on Sunday — a 99 percent decrease in barely two months.

"Two years ago today, New York confirmed our first case of a new virus called COVID-19," Gov. Kathy Hochul tweeted Tuesday.

"It’s been a long road since then, but New Yorkers stepped up to slow the spread, and rolled up their sleeves to get vaccinated & boosted.

Thank you, New Yorkers!"

New York City finds itself two years after March 1, 2020, on the cusp of a perhaps-permanent shift back to pre-pandemic life.

Mayor Eric Adams recently announced that vaccine requires for indoor dining and other settings likely will end March 7. Mask mandates for indoor school setting are due to end that day as well after Gov. Kathy Hochul announced they'll lift statewide.

"If we see no unforeseen spikes and our numbers continue to show a low level of risk, New York City will remove the indoor mask mandate for public school children, effective next Monday, March 7," Adams said in a statement.