As New York begins to see a subvariant of omicron become the dominant strain in the city, the Midwest is also beginning to see more cases emerge.
According to the latest figures from NYC Health, the city is now averaging 892 new cases of COVID per day over the last week.
That represents a 29% increase from a week ago, when the city was averaging 689 cases per day, according to officials.
The daily average has increased by 53.5% in the last two weeks, according to officials, with the city bottoming out at 581 cases per day in early March.
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The city’s positivity rate currently stands at 1.89%, but the number remains stable at this time, officials said.
According to the CDC, the so-called “stealth” omicron variant BA.2 has been driving the uptick in cases in the New York area, with the strain now accounting for at least 52% of the new COVID cases in the region in recent weeks, estimates suggest.
Nationally, the BA.2 variant is responsible for 35% of new infections.
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The “stealth” omicron subvariant is not the dominant strain in Chicago at this time, officials said, but the likelihood is that it will be by the end of next month.
According to the CDC, the BA.2 subvariant made up just over 30% of new COVID cases in a six-state area, including Illinois, over the last week.
While numbers are still low in the city of Chicago in terms of new COVID cases, there is an uptick in cases that has been noted by health experts. As of Thursday, the city is averaging 177 new cases of COVID per day, a 29% increase over a week ago when the city was at 137.
The city’s positivity rate is currently at 0.9%, which is also up from last week, officials said.
