New York COVID cases are rising by 55%, and doctors are warning about new varieties

The COVID-19 emergency was formally declared over in May, but some members of the medical community contend that the coronavirus remains a serious threat.

According to the most recent data from the New York State Department of Health, which was published on August 2, the number of COVID cases increased by 55% from the previous week, with an average of 824 cases being reported daily across the state.

Additionally, there were 22% higher hospital admissions for the illness last week compared to the prior week, amounting to more than 100 admissions each day.

According to a recent warning from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a new variety known as EG.5, or eris, has emerged as the dominant strain and is responsible for around 17% of COVID cases countrywide.

The good news is that there is nothing about the virus that signals it is becoming more contagious or deadly, according to Dr. Ashwin Vasan, the NYC health commissioner.

What this truly is is merely decreasing immunity; these oscillations are to be expected when living with COVID.

The rise in COVID-19 cases isn’t just happening in New York; in the week ending July 22, there were 8,000 COVID-19 hospital admissions in the US, up 12% from the previous week. The omicron variety caused a jump in infections in the winter of 2021–2022 and other years, according to CDC data, which also demonstrates that each year since the pandemic started in 2020, a winter rise in cases is followed by a lesser increase in the middle of the summer.

The fact that we don’t know where the [omicron] version originated, according to Bershteyn, who added that a more lethal variant might appear suddenly, is “the most terrifying thing to me.” She continued, “That incident could occur at any time.” “That thought makes my spine tingle.

Health professionals worry that we are not ready, especially for the worst-case scenario, as new varieties keep emerging. According to Anna Bershteyn, assistant professor at the Department of Population Health at NYU’s medical school, “the most terrifying thing is if the virus was more deadly.”