With COVID numbers climbing, precautions being taken at all NYC-run hospitals
NEW YORK -- With COVID cases again on the rise, New York City health officials are considering raising the city's alert level up to "code yellow."
There are growing concerns now about a spring COVID surge across the country, CBS2's John Dias reported Tuesday
What's old is new again at Bellevue Hospital, with certain COVID precautions are back in place for all city-run hospitals.
All visitors must show proof of up-to-date vaccinations or have a negative COVID test within 48 hours. in addition, patients can only have two visitors at a time.
"If it's going to mean slowing things down with the COVID and outbreaks, I'm all for it," said Charles Dominick of Brownsville, Brooklyn.
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Dominick said the new restrictions ease his worried mind. The Brooklyn father was bringing his daughter to the hospital for an appointment on Tuesday.
"How these variants are popping up, we have to be mindful. The hospital has other people in it as well, more people that are sick," Dominick said.
The city's daily average rate for positive or probable cases for the past seven days is more than 1,800 and it has a 4.03 percent positive daily average. It was 1 percent after the initial Omicron variant surge.
Many are fearful of what could come next.
"I think we are all afraid tentative that we are seeing a light that doesn't really exist and we will have to go back to certain things," said Brent Cox of the East Side.
"Things are getting more crowded. People are jumping to conclusions that it's safe, when it's really not," another person said.
Dr. Ashwin Vasan, the city's health commissioner, said because of the rise in cases he expects the COVID alert level to go up from a low to medium alert risk level next week.
"We are going to see a significant rise in cases. The good news, and I want to reassure New Yorkers, this is about preparation, not panic," Vasan said.
The city of Philadelphia is re-instating its indoor mask mandate next week since cases there have increased by more than 50 percent in the past 10 days.
At Columbia University, mandatory masking in classrooms is back until the end of the spring semester.
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