Omicron hits hard
Huge COVID-19 surge, even in high-vaxxed Manhattan
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
The latest wave of COVID
19 cases — sparked
by the Delta and Omicron
variants — constitutes a
tsunami of infection crashing
down upon New York City less
than a week before Christmas.
More than 10 areas of New
York City saw their 7-day
positivity rates exceed 10%,
and 17 communities reported
300 or more new COVID-19
cases, between Dec. 10-16,
according to data from the
New York City Department of
Health and Mental Hygiene.
The high numbers suggest a
larger number of breakthrough
cases than before, especially
since many areas with higher
infection rates also reported
most, if not all, of their residents
as being fully vaccinated.
Manhattan has become
the hotbed of transmission,
with a rate of 790.87 cases
per 100,000 people, beating
out Staten Island (550.67 per
100,000) in transmissibility.
Eight Manhattan areas
LOCAL NEWS
People wait in in a queue to enter CityMD, a health clinic that off ers coronavirus disease
(COVID-19) testing, on the Upper West Side, Dec. 19, 2021.
reported 7-day positivity rates
above 10%, and ironically,
most of them registered
vaccination rates above
90% — suggesting many
breakthrough cases.
Tribeca (10007) logged a
city-high 7-day positivity rate
of 12.87% between Dec. 10-
16, with 95 new cases reported
during the period. But the city’s
Health Department reported
99% of Tribeca’s 6,991 people
got at least their fi rst dose,
with 96% of all residents fully
vaccinated.
REUTERS/ANDREW KELLY
The same holds true for
Hudson Square/Meatpacking
District/West Village (10014),
which had a 12.44% positivity
rate and 307 new cases
between Dec. 10-16. That area
has 89% of all residents with
at least the fi rst dose, and 79%
fully vaccinated.
As for the highest number of
new COVID-19 cases over the
past week, East Williamsburg/
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
reclaimed the top of the list
again, with 696 new diagnoses
between Dec. 10-16. The area’s
7-day positivity rate, however,
was 7.75%.
East Village/Gramercy/
Greenwich Village in
Manhattan (10003) had the
second-most cases with 618
and a 7-day positivity rate of
11.26%, followed by Kips
Bay/Murray Hill (10016) with
569 cases and a 10.64% 7-day
positivity rate.
While East Williamsburg/
Williamsburg’s vaccination
rates remain among the lowest
in the city (61% with the fi rst
dose, 55% fully vaccinated),
East Village/Gramercy/
Greenwich Village (84%
fi rst dose, 74% fully vaxxed)
and Kips Bay/Murray Hill
(99% fi rst dose, 91% fully
vaccinated) had far more
residents with some line of
protection against COVID-19.
COVID-19 infections among
the unvaccinated is literally off
the charts, according to the
Health Department. As of Dec.
4, the number of cases among
unvaccinated New Yorkers was
804.46 per 100,000. That’s
nearly 10 times higher than
the 96.81 cases per 100,000
among vaccinated residents.
Restaurant workers threaten exodus
BY DEAN MOSES
With the Omicron variant
infecting record
numbers in New
York City, restaurant staff and
elected offi cials warn of severe
dining interruptions as many
workers are projected not to
return to the industry in 2022.
“Either Governor Hochul
raises the wage or you’re gonna
see a mass exodus the likes of
which we have never seen, and
this industry will not be able
to reopen,” co-founder of One
Fair Wage Saru Jayaraman said
on Dec. 21.
Dozens of restaurant
workers, elected offi cials, and
business owners convened
outside the East Village’s
La Palapa restaurant on
Tuesday afternoon to decry
the treatment of those in the
food industry amid a global
pandemic that is undergoing a
spike in infections. From verbal
and physical abuse that have
even left some hospitalized,
table servers and delivery
drivers say they have not only
seen it all while working for
subminimum wage, but the
misconduct has also only grown
more prevalent throughout
the course of COVID-19’s
devastation. When workers
attempt to enforce mask
mandates and vaccination
protocols, they have been met
with violent reactions from
those who disagree with the
city’s guidelines.
It is with this in mind
the group put forward an
ultimatum: either workers are
provided with a livable wage
in addition to tips, or they will
leave the business in search of
greener pastures elsewhere.
“How many more assaults
on women in this industry do
we have to see before we give
them a full minimum wage.
They don’t have to put up with
everything to get those tips. I’m
going to tell you one last thing:
how many more years? Zero,”
Jayaraman said.
As Jayaraman highlighted
women in the industry, so did
Congressmember Carolyn
Maloney, who shared that
she is concerned for the state
of the dining market in the
coming months. Reiterating
that the bill has been passed in
Congress but has failed to make
it through the Senate, Maloney
underscored that women are
the workers who suffer the
most due to this failure.
“The COVID pandemic has
been especially hard on women
because the US economy
has always been historically
hard on women,” she said,
adding, “I was a waitress, so
I know fi rsthand. The insult,
the harassment, and the really
Workers say they will continue, but only for fair wages.
hard, hard work and long
hours. This is a cause that we
all need to get behind.”
The conference occurred
just moments before Mayor Bill
de Blasio announced additional
actions being implemented to
improve the safety, health and
working conditions for delivery
workers—the ones who were
PHOTO BY DEAN MOSES
outside working while the city
quarantined.
These measures will affect
65,000 delivery workers,
especially delivery app
companies, and will enforce
labor standards that include
regulating delivery distance,
minimum pay standards, and
bathroom access.
6 December 23, 2021 Schneps Media