New York Lifts COVID Restrictions; New Strains Still A Concern

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has lifted COVID-19 restrictions, although the emergence of more contagious strains could put a stop to that, CNBC writes.

The holiday surge from Christmas and New Years appears to be done with, peaking on Jan. 4 when the positivity rate in New York hit 8 percent across the state.

Now, the figure is sitting at around 5.6 percent.

Cuomo said he’d lift restrictions across the state for gatherings and some nonessential businesses in the state, except in parts of the greater New York City area like Washington Heights, the Bronx and Queens and the Newburgh area upstate, CNBC writes. Those areas are “yellow zones” under NYC’s terminology, which was trying to target areas more acutely affected by the virus.

Cuomo’s new rules will lift restrictions on remaining yellow and orange zones in the states, which will give back access to things like larger gatherings, hair salons, gyms and more.

In addition, Cuomo plans to meet with NYC mayor Bill de Blasio and discuss how to reopen indoor dining in the city, with more details to follow later in the week, CNBC writes.

That said, the new strains of the virus, which have been cropping up in the U.S. in recent weeks, are “a real concern” and the COVID threat is “not over,” Cuomo stressed. A recent study found that the U.K. strain could become the dominant strain by March, CNBC writes.

States have been lifting restrictions gradually with the improvements to infection rates, the Associated Press (AP) reports, but the variant has slowed things down there, too.

“If the frequency goes up, you tighten it up. If the frequency goes down, you loosen up. Getting it just right is almost impossible,” said Dr. Arnold Monto, a public health professor at the University of Michigan, according to the AP. “There’s no perfect way to do this.”

COVID cases have fallen in the past two weeks, from an average of 248,000 per day to one of 166,000. But the new variant has been seen in over 20 states, the AP writes.

While that’s happening, though, vaccine development is continuing, with some hiccups — while over 25.4 million doses have been distributed, just 8.9 million have been administered, PYMNTS writes.