NYC’s COVID Christmas: See The Latest Numbers

NEW YORK CITY — Like Cousin Eddie in “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation,” the coronavirus will return to spoil New Yorkers’ holiday gatherings — whether they want it or not.

COVID-19 positivity in New York City stood at 14.6 percent just before Christmas Eve, with an average of 3,670 daily cases, according to city health data.

The levels of coronavirus infection, though officially “stable,” are still higher than previous months, said Ashwin Vasan, the city’s health commissioner this week. He said New York City is also seeing two other viruses — influenza and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV — spreading at high levels.

“This holiday season, our city like the country is experiencing unusually high and concurrent spikes of COVID-19 and other seasonal infections, especially influenza and RSV,” he said.

New York City’s third holiday season under the threat of COVID-19 very well could be remembered as the “tripledemic” year.

Influenza cases spiked much earlier than other years, according to data.

The city saw roughly 17,000 detected flu cases during the week ending Dec. 10, with positivity among samples at 25 percent, data shows.

Vasan noted that flu cases appear to be flattening, but that COVID-19 positivity is on a slow and steady rise.

RSV cases, however, have been declining for weeks — a likely relief for parents of infants and other vulnerable children.