Health Officials Warned Staten Island of Delta Variant Rise

Staten Island is experiencing a surge in Covid-19 cases at least partially because of the recent spread of the highly infectious Delta variant among the unvaccinated citizens of New York, the city’s top doctor warned on Monday.

Dr. Dave Chokshi, the city’s health commissioner, said at a virtual press briefing with Mayor Bill de Blasio that the spread of the Delta variant means that it is maybe the most dangerous time to be unvaccinated, and that is why they have confirmed that their efforts regarding the vaccination are taking place with as much urgency as possible.

The percentage of positive cases has increased during the recent days and weeks, and that is because they have unvaccinated individuals at this time, mainly younger people who have been left from being vaccinated.New York City residents who have not received even one dose of the vaccine are now at “very high risk” of catching the coronavirus, added de Blasio’s senior adviser for public health, Dr. Jay Varma.

Overall, the city is facing a slight increase in the new Covid-19 cases, with the weekly rolling average at 328 and a 1.27% of positivity rate, according to the figures released on Monday by the mayor.On Friday, the city’s positivity rate was recorded to be 0.85% for the latest weekly average, with Staten Island being the only area to clock in above 1%, the state data showed. Earlier, it had a positive rate of 1.41%.