New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Sunday that New York City will be opening more testing sites amid the spike in COVID-19 cases and fears of the new Omicron variant. 

With long lines at testing sites reported throughout the city, de Blasio said the "world has changed" and the demand in testing is "unlike we have ever seen before, just like we have a surge in cases just like we have never seen before."

According to New York Governor Kathy Hochul, Sunday marked the third day in a row the state saw a record-high number of people test positive for COVID-19. There were 22,478 poisitive cases reported in the state, with 12,404 of those in New York City alone. 

De Blasio defended waiting weeks after Omicron was first detected to ramp up testing, saying that no knew how Omicron would spread. He called on the White House to invoke the Defense Production Act to provide more at-home tests and monoclonal antibody treatments, and called for fast-tracking Pfizer's antiviral pill. 

The Rockettes on Friday canceled remaining performances of the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, citing “increasing challenges from the pandemic”. Saturday Night Live taped without an audience and with reduced crew. Lines at some testing sites stretched around the block and at-home tests remained hard to find or pricier than usual.

But new hospitalizations and deaths are averaging well below their spring 2020 peak and even where they were this time last year, during a winter wave that came as vaccinations were just beginning, city data shows.

Mount Sinai Health System emergency rooms had seen about 20% more patients – with all conditions – in recent days, according to Dr Eric Legome, who oversees two of the network’s seven ERs. But at least so far, he said, “We’re seeing a lot more treat-and-release” coronavirus patients than in earlier waves.

Many are looking for tests, help with mild or moderate symptoms, or monoclonal antibody treatment, but very few require oxygen or a hospital stay, said Legome.

Hospital admissions and deaths tend to rise and fall weeks after cases do. But Dr Fritz François, chief of hospital operations for NYU Langone Health, says so far, “We’re actually seeing something different” than in previous surges.

For one thing, Covid patients are going home a bit quicker, he said.

NYU Langone has seen a small uptick in patients with Covid, now about 80 in its several hospitals in New York City and Long Island. That’s about 80% less than the tally at the top of last winter’s wave, François said.

NYU Langone keeps refreshing its plans to handle a surge if it comes, but such preparedness is just “the new normal”, he said.