New York City sees uptick in coronavirus cases as weather turns colder, easing access to booster shots

He said the increase was “anticipated,” and even though 630,000 booster shots of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered so far, more people need to get the shot.

“Although hospitalizations remain low right now, we are seeing an uptick in recent days,” he said. “We had anticipated that this might occur as the weather gets cooler and people spend more time indoors, but compared to this time last year, we have many more tools to fight COVID-19 and work to keep a winter wave at bay.”

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Dr. Chokshi also announced that he’s issuing a Commissioner’s Advisory to all health care providers to ensure there are no barriers for New Yorkers to get a COVID-19 booster shot if they are over 18 and at least six months since their second Pfizer or Moderna shot or 2 months since a J&J shot.

“Clinicians should allow adult patients to determine their own risk of exposure, based on their individual circumstances,” he said on Twitter. “In practice, this means that providers should not turn a patient away if they request a booster.”

The city’s final scheduled day of pop-up clinics at public schools for 5- to 11-year-old vaccinations is Monday, but Mayor Bill de Blasio announced “we will be doing more” school-based vaccinations, with details forthcoming.

“We will be announcing some additional steps in our school based vaccination effort this week,” he said. “We love the fact that parents have decided this is a great place to get their kids vaccinated, so we will be doing more with our schools. And look, everyone, this is a time to focus even more intently on vaccination, of course, for the youngest New Yorkers, because it’s new. Let’s make sure every single child gets vaccinated. But let’s go back on all the rest of us and make sure anyone not yet vaccinated gets vaccinated.”

Officials said that 62,000 doses have been administered to 5- to 11-year-olds citywide, along with 80% of 12- to 17-year-olds having at least one dose.

Roughly 87% of adults have had at least one dose, and 93% of city employees are vaccinated — including 92% of EMS workers, 86% of firefighters, and 87% of sanitation workers.

“We find this has been an incredibly effective approach,” de Blasio said. “There is one last piece when it comes to our public employees, Department of Correction officers, who have a December 1 date to report to work vaccinated.”

Just 57% of uniformed Correction Department staff is vaccinated.

“That is up 10% since the original announcement, but we’ve got a lot more to do,” de Blasio said. “We want to make sure all the uniformed staff know the deadline is coming up, encourage everyone to get vaccinated in time.”

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The mayor reminded officers that they still qualify for the $500 incentive, through November 30.

Anyone who wants to apply for an exemption or accommodation has until Tuesday, November 23, to do so.

The vast majority of city workers who have sought exemptions to the COVID vaccination mandate are police officers, about 6,000.

“I expect all of those to be adjudicated in the next few weeks,” de Blasio said.

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