In May, the COVID-19 emergency was officially declared over — but the coronavirus is still a significant concern, according to some in the medical community.
The latest data from the New York state Department of Health, released Aug. 2, shows that COVID cases spiked by 55% since the prior week, with an average of 824 reported cases per day across the state.
And hospital admissions for the disease increased by 22% compared to the previous week, which translates to more than 100 admissions a day.
Meanwhile, a new variant — dubbed EG.5, or eris — has arisen as the dominant strain, causing about 17% of COVID cases nationwide, according to a new alert from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
However, Dr. Ashwin Vasan, the NYC health commissioner, has said “the good news is that we’re not seeing anything in the virus that suggests it’s getting more transmissible or more lethal. What this really is, is just waning immunity … This is part of living with COVID and these fluctuations are to be expected.”
The rise in COVID-19 cases isn’t limited to New York: The CDC recorded 8,000 US hospital admissions for COVID-19 in the week ending July 22, a 12% increase from the week before.
CDC data also shows that each year since the pandemic began in 2020, an annual winter spike in cases — such as when the omicron variant caused a leap in infections in the winter of 2021-22 — is followed by a smaller increase in the middle of the summer.
“The most frightening thing to me is, we don’t know where that [omicron] variant came from,” Bershteyn said, adding that an even deadlier variant could arise without warning.
“That event could happen anytime,” she added. “That thought sends chills down my spine.”
As new variants continue to appear, health experts are concerned that we’re not prepared — especially for a worst-case scenario.
“The most frightening thing is if the virus was more deadly,” Anna Bershteyn, assistant professor in the Department of Population Health at NYU’s medical school, told The Post.
“That’s really scary,” Bershteyn added, “if a virus had the transmissibility of COVID and was as deadly as the MERS coronavirus,” referring to Middle East respiratory syndrome, a disease with a fatality rate of over 30%.
Lack of testing frustrates health experts
Even as cases increase and people gather for summer travel, popular movies and other events, tests for COVID-19 aren’t as readily available as they once were.