NYC COVID infection and hospitalization rates increase as questions swirl over Mayor Adams’ plan

Coronavirus infection rates are surging in the city with more than 15% of all tests coming back positive on average in the past week, data from the Health Department shows — and it remains unclear what Mayor Adams plans to do to address the pandemic resurgence.

While the weeklong test positivity average is at 15.4% citywide, there are pockets in every borough where the rate tops an alarming 20%, the data shows, and it also comes as COVID-19 hospitalizations are ticking up.

As of Thursday, 1,119 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 in the city, the highest number since February, according to city data. Compounded with booster vaccination rates remaining largely stagnant, public health experts view the spiking hospitalization rate as especially troubling as it indicates that more people are falling seriously ill from the virus.

Health Department data shows the citywide coronavirus booster rate has been stuck near 39% since April, a concerning sign as the effectiveness of the first two vaccine doses wanes over time.

“We need a campaign to reverse this trend, based on a simple Q: are you up to date on your vax?” Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine wrote on Twitter over the weekend.

Levine, who used to chair the City Council’s Health Committee and has been a major proponent of vaccine mandates, suggested Adams’ administration should reintroduce a $100 cash incentive for boosters and roll out an aggressive ad campaign educating New Yorkers that being “up to date on your vax” should at this stage of the pandemic include a third shot.

The summer wave is being driven by BA.5 and BA.4, exceedingly transmissible subvariants of the omicron COVID strain that have become the country’s most common virus type in recent weeks.

But Adams has so far been vague on how his administration will fight the latest COVID-19 surge.

Earlier this month, Adams’ Health Department quietly removed the color-coded COVID alert system that spelled out a range of actions that the municipal government should consider taking when infection rates hit certain thresholds, like reinstating mask and vaccine mandates for certain public indoor spaces and activities.

The alert system was scrapped without any immediate replacement plan from Adams.

Asked by the Daily News this past Thursday how he will battle COVID without the alert system, Adams promised he’s working on “new weapons” for the pandemic fight. He said he’s going to bring in experts “from all across the globe” to help build the new weapons, but did not elaborate on what they will look like or how soon New Yorkers can expect them.

Spokesmen for Adams and the Health Department did not immediately return requests for additional details Monday.