'We Are Winning': Adams Touts Recent Omicron COVID Decline

NEW YORK CITY — Mayor Eric Adams touted a recent sharp decline in the city's COVID-19 cases with a triumphant note.

"We are winning," he said Tuesday.

But Adams tempered his characteristic, "Saturday Night Live"-mocked swagger with some significant caveats.

The city does appear past the omicron peak, but Adams noted that hospitalizations and deaths typically lag behind cases.

Those could peak later, he said.

The city's seven-day average of new daily COVID-19 cases is under 20,000, said Dave Chokshi, the city's health commissioner.

"That's less than half the peak of nearly 43,000 average new cases a day earlier in January," he said. "Similarly, we are starting to see a decrease in COVID-19 hospitalizations from a total of about 6,500 patients hospitalized citywide on Jan. 11 to about 5,800 as of Sunday, according to state data."

But Chokshi too offered a significant caveat.

"These numbers are still very high, meaning community transmission remains widespread, and we will need to follow these trends closely over the coming days and weeks," he said.

Vaccinations and boosters, despite a higher rate of so-called breakthrough infections, still appear to help avert severe illnesses, Chokshi said.

"And for that, I thank you because you also helped protect our hospitals and our health workers," he said. "Our most recent data show that unvaccinated people are over eight times more likely to be hospitalized compared to those who are vaccinated."

New York City recently passed 16 million doses of coronavirus vaccine that went into arms, Adams said.