Foreign
NYC COVID-19 infection rate remains above 3 pct: mayor
New York City’s COVID-19 infection rate on 7-day average was 3.05 percent, Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted on Wednesday. The rate on Tuesday was not announced, and the rate on Monday was 3.06 percent.
“It is critical that we stick to what works this weekend: wear a mask, avoid large gatherings and practice social distancing,” the mayor added.
Earlier on Wednesday, while appearing live on CNN’s Situation Room, de Blasio said that “in the next week or two we should see some substantial restrictions. I think indoor dining will be closed. Gyms will be closed.”
Currently, indoor dining can be open at 25 percent capacity and all establishments with liquor licenses should be closed at 10:00 p.m., according to New York State’s regulations.
The mayor also told CNN that “even though schools were very, very safe, we’re going to have to add additional precautions (including more testing) to get the schools back.”
All the city’s public schools ended in-person learning on Thursday as the infection rate on 7-day average reached 3 percent last Wednesday, the threshold to a second wave of the pandemic and an overall closure of NYC schools.
As of Tuesday evening, the coronavirus deaths added up to 24,220 and the confirmed cases to 298,275 in New York City, according to The City, a project that tracks the spread of confirmed COVID-19 infections and fatalities in New York City, based on information provided by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the governor’s office, The COVID Tracking Project and the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
(XINHUA)
