Surging COVID Cases Push New Yorkers To Change New Year's Eve Party Plans
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The New Year's Eve celebration in Times Square was scaled down this year because of COVID concerns, and some people hosting parties did the same thing.
If you decided to ring in the new year with scaled-back plans, you weren't alone.
"We're just gonna go eat some ice cream. That's pretty much it," Angel Aleman told CBS2's Thalia Perez.
This year, the Omicron variant wreaked havoc on many, pushing them to change plans to squash events altogether.
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Vivian Guzman was planning a big bash at her New Rochelle home with 40 guest who were required to show proof of vaccination ahead of time in addition to a negative COVID-19 result.
"What I didn't anticipate was that everybody at Christmas at some point or another came into brush with someone who contracted Omni, the Omni frowner, and it just pooed the whole entire party," Guzman said.
She says by Thursday, the guest list trickled down to less than a handful of friends.
Aleman says she also canceled plans with her loved ones.
"Because we love them so much we've decided, you know what, we're just going to stay home. We'll probably Zoom them if we can, send them dinner, but that's as much as we can do right now," she said.
Many took advantage of the warmer weather and opted for outdoor dining.
"We decided we would do something, but the safest thing to do would be to go out early and just have an early dinner outdoors," Sylvia Tiersten said.
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Revelers partying indoors say they're happy to show proof of vaccination.
"I definitely think it's better, just peace of mind-wise, and I think, like anything, if you do end up with a positive test afterwards, you know that you did everything possible," Anne Balch said.
As disappointing as it may be to miss all the big affairs, we can all agree, being healthy is the most important.
CBS2's Thalia Perez contributed to this report.