IN BROOKLYN
Brooklynites wait on line for a test
for COVI-19.
Photo by Ben Brachfeld
COURIER LIFE, DECEMBER 24-30, 2021 3
city would open dozens of new
testing sites to handle the Omicron
surge, which is expected
to last for several weeks but
— based on data from South
Africa, where it was fi rst detected,
may not cause as much
physical harm as previous
variants despite being vastly
more transmissible (though
the jury is still out on that).
Hizzoner said Monday that
there are currently 89 city-run
testing sites, including standing
and mobile sites, and that
23 more are expected to come
online this week, three mobile
and twenty brick-and-mortar.
Ted Long, Executive Director
of Test & Trace Corps,
H&H’s testing and contact
tracing arm, says that PCR
tests at H&H sites are seeing
turnaround times of about 24-
36 hours, which he claims is
the fastest in the city, though
the volume of tests being processed
could mean some results
take longer to get to the
patient.
Meanwhile, CityMD, which
has 20 locations in Brooklyn,
has brought its “virtual line”
back from the dead, allowing
test-seekers to stake a spot online
and wait until their appointment
is called, as a crush
of New Yorkers rush for tests.
Brooklyn’s transmission
rate is now the second-highest
of the fi ve boroughs, with
616 new cases per 100,000 residents
according to city data.
That’s above the citywide average
of 608 per 100,000, but
remains well below the nearly
950 per 100,000 currently seen
in Manhattan.
BY BEN BRACHFELD
NYC Health + Hospitals
(H+H), the city’s network of
public hospitals, is temporarily
suspending almost
all visitations effective
Wednesday, a major escalation
in the fi ght against
the Omicron variant reminiscent
of the earliest, most
frightening days of the pandemic.
H+H CEO Mitchell Katz
said that the new policy
comes after an outbreak at
an unspecifi ed hospital in
the network related to visitation.
“There’s so much transmission going
on right now in New York City because of
Omicron,” Katz said at Mayor Bill de Blasio’s
daily briefi ng on Monday. “And so, for
a short while, while we get the situation under
control, we’re going to have limited visitation.”
H+H spokesperson Christopher Miller
said that the network would not be sharing
which hospital suffered the outbreak.
The announcement, fi rst publicized by
Coney Island Hospital on Tuesday afternoon,
makes exceptions for patients who are in labor,
children, in hospice care, or who have
intellectual disabilities. Visitors to those patients
will have to be either fully vaccinated
or produce a negative test from within the
past 48 hours. Visits to all other patients will
be banned for an undefi ned period of time.
“For a short time,” Katz continued, “in
order to make sure that we don’t cause more
disease, we need to limit the number of visitors.”
The move is reminiscent of, though not
as stringent as, a move by the State Department
of Health in March 2020, the apex of the
pandemic in New York.
Katz also said that the network’s testing
sites will see expanded hours, from 7 am
to 7 pm, to meet the extensive demand for
COVID tests seen over the past week as the
Omicron variant surges. Over 1 million New
Yorkers got tested for COVID between Dec.
14-20, according to state data. Those seeking
tests have been met with immense lines, often
taking over two hours to get to the front,
and the huge load of tests being proffered
has overwhelmed testing labs, causing longer
than-normal wait times for results.
New state records were set each day between
Dec. 15-19 for numbers of new cases,
culminating in over 15,000
new cases reported on
Sunday. The number went
down slightly on Monday,
to 13,760, which is still the
second-highest number of
new daily cases ever in the
pandemic era.
The test positivity rate
stood at just over 11% on
Monday, the latest date
when data is available
from the city. That’s up
from 3.47% just two weeks
ago on Dec. 8.
After having previously
closed many brick-andmortar
testing sites and shifting focus to
mobile sites before Omicron hit, the city has
gone on a reopening blitz, and the number
of testing sites citywide now stands at 119,
the mayor said. Sen. Chuck Schumer, who
was given a key to the city by the mayor on
Wednesday, said he’s requested 100 mobile
testing sites from the federal government,
and has so far secured a commitment for six,
though he says that’s not nearly enough.
The city, state, and federal governments
have all also stated that they will begin distributing
at-home tests to lessen the burden
on testing sites.
Hospitalization rates have ticked up as
the case numbers have exploded, but not to
nearly the same degree, and the mayor said
the city’s hospitals are sustaining the caseload
much more effectively than in 2020. He
also again said that he expects the Omicron
surge to only last a few weeks owing to the
lower rates of hospitalizations.
“The good news is our hospitals are doing
well,” Hizzoner said at the briefi ng. “And
we’re seeing a very different reality than
we saw in 2020. Many fewer people in ICUs,
thank god. So even though we’re seeing these
higher numbers, we’re able to sustain.”
H+H later announced the opening of
three CDC mobile testing units in Queens.
One of them opened Wednesday, at Travers
Park, 76-09 34th Ave. in Jackson Heights.
The other two sites will open Thursday
morning, at Queens Valley Playground,
corner of 137th Street and 77th Avenue in
Flushing; and at the Helen Marshall Playground,
100th Street and 24th Avenue in
East Elmhurst.
These CDC mobile testing sites will be
open each day from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Visit nyc.
gov/covidtests to fi nd other test sites near
you.
People wait in line at a COVID-19 testing site. File photo
NYC public hospitals suspend
visitations as cases rise