Times Square show will go on despite virus surge, NYC mayor says

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City volition ringing successful 2022 successful Times Square arsenic planned contempt grounds numbers of COVID-19 infections successful the metropolis and astir the nation, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Thursday.

“We privation to amusement that we’re moving forward, and we privation to amusement the satellite that New York City is warring our mode done this,” de Blasio, whose past time successful bureau is Friday, said connected NBC’s “Today” show.

After banning revelers from Times Square a twelvemonth agone owed to the pandemic, metropolis officials antecedently announced plans for a scaled-back New Year’s bash with smaller crowds and vaccinations required.

While cities specified arsenic Atlanta person canceled New Year’s Eve celebrations, de Blasio said New York City’s precocious COVID-19 vaccination complaint makes it feasible to invited masked, socially distanced crowds to ticker the shot driblet successful Times Square. “We’ve got to nonstop a connection to the world. New York City is open,” helium said.

Thanks to the highly contagious omicron variant that was archetypal identified arsenic a variant of interest past month, caller COVID-19 cases successful the U.S. person soared to their highest levels connected grounds astatine implicit 265,000 per time connected average. New York City reported a grounds fig of new, confirmed cases — much than 39,590 — connected Tuesday, according to New York authorities figures.

De Blasio said the reply is to “double down connected vaccinations” and noted that 91% of New York City adults person received astatine slightest 1 COVID-19 vaccine dose.

The city’s adjacent mayor, Eric Adams, volition instrumentality the oath of bureau successful Times Square aboriginal Saturday. Adams, a Democrat similar de Blasio, planned a quality league aboriginal Thursday to outline his pandemic plan.