There's a new double COVID variant coming to town

 

  Progress New York

Despite the devastating toll of the double-variant of the Coronavirus wreaking havoc in India, the administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio (WFP-New York City) is keeping mum about conducting Genomic sequencing for the foreign mutation, designated as B.1.617. For this report, the press office supporting Mayor de Blasio refused to acknowledge that it was an act of “neglect” to fail to sequence for B.1.617 in New York City.

NYC Health, the Municipal health department, last reported Genomic sequencing on May 4 of a subset of virus specimens taken from New York City residents. NYC Health tracks five variants being monitored by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (B.1.1.7, B.1.351, B.1.429, B.1.427, and P.1), in addition to three other variants being monitored by New York City health officials (B.1.526/B.1.526.2, B.1525, and P.2). But City health officials have not been tracking the B.1.617 double-variant from India.

In recent weeks, the B.1.617 double-variant has reportedly been detected in the San Francisco Bay Area ; Shelby County, Tennessee ; Clinton County, Michigan ; and Jefferson County, Ohio.

The oversight comes as the Coronavirus pandemic has been described as “changing too quickly,” given the emergence and spread of new variants and the decline in vaccination rates, leading to a reported loss of faith that global herd immunity might be achievable, according to a report published by the New York Times.

Public Advocate Jumaane Williams (WFP-New York City) was highly critical of the easing of economic activity restrictions by Mayor de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY), according to a report published on Friday by the political magazine Web site, City & State. The success of the reopening would depend on whether New Yorkers continued to follow public health guidelines that recommended the wearing of masks and adhering to social distancing, Dr. Danielle Ompad, an associate professor of epidemiology at New York University, said for the City & State report. There was a sense that the public would change their behaviour in the face of changes in Government policy, Dr. Ompad said.

The emphasis to reopen the economy requires a change from focusing on public health to individual risk sensibilities, according to an essay by Joseph Allen, an associate public health professor at Harvard University, published in the Washington Post that was later cited in a CNN report.

Early in the Coronavirus pandemic, Mayor de Blasio and Gov. Cuomo were faulted for failing to condition the public to change their behaviour in order to contain the initial outbreak, according to a report published by the New Yorker magazine.

To promote the reopening of the economy, Mayor de Blasio has announced a tourism campaign to encourage travel to New York City, and Gov. Cuomo moved up the scheduled reopening from Mayor de Blasio’s proposed date of July 1 to May 19, according to reports. The moves fly in the face of past efforts by Gov. Cuomo to blame travel for the spread of the Coronavirus.