Covid-19: New York’s new mayor rules out returning to telecommuting despite explosive increase in cases

The new mayor of New York, Eric Adams, who will take office on January 1, categorically ruled out this Thursday returning to closures or teleworking in the face of the exponential increase in covid cases and advocated for a greater extension of vaccines and masks to fight against the virus. We cannot close New York again”, “we must keep our city open”, Adams repeated on several occasions in a press conference aimed at explaining what the measures to fight against covid-19 and its omniron variant will be. Yesterday, the number of positives reached a new record (more than 67,000) and the percentage of positivity approached 19% of the tests practiced, a percentage that has stabilized thanks, among other things, to the fact that the number of tests does not stop growing in the city. Vaccination is mandatory for public officials in New York and Adams did not rule out imposing the booster dose for them as well, without giving dates, but he was reluctant to make the vaccine mandatory for the private sector, and in any case ruled out asking for punitive measures for workers who refuse to be vaccinated. He also ruled out returning to teleworking for public officials, and although he said that the measure can be reconsidered, he said he was in favor of workers leaving their homes for their jobs for what that means giving life to an economic system that works with human mobility. The new mayor launched numerous messages supporting trade and said that the measures taken against the virus “must not be devastating for business.” In the same vein, he rejected the idea of canceling shows and more specifically the theaters and musicals of the mythical Broadway street, which he defined as “a symbol that brings billions to the city” and that needs us to “send a signal that we are open and we are safe.” We want the lights on Broadway,” he said, and announced a visit in the coming hours in this central neighborhood of the show as a sign of support for the entire sector. In short, he advocated strengthening vaccination, the network of street covid testing points, the sending of “millions of rapid tests” to homes and the massive distribution of two million high-quality masks.” Vaccines plus test, that’s the formula,” he insisted, and proposed jokingly to print T-shirts with that message, always with the idea that “New York is at the forefront of the country and the world in this fight.”

Original source in Spanish