NEW YORK CITY: Virus Cases Spike in Jails, Where Less Than Half Of Detainees Are Vaccinated

WCBS - TV: New York City Leaders Urge Incoming Adams Administration To Address Rikers Island COVID Surge 

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Local leaders are taking aim at Mayor Bill de Blasio and urging the incoming Adams administration to address the COVID surge on Rikers Island.

More than half of those incarcerated are unvaccinated, putting them at severe risk as the Omicron variant spreads, CBS2’s Aundrea Cline-Thomas reported Thursday.

The Department of Correction has already sounded the alarm: if the COVID infection rate is surging across the city, it’s soaring exponentially on Rikers.

The positivity rate has gone from 9.5% Monday to 17.4% Tuesday to 21.5% Wednesday.

“This mayor, even in the middle of this acute situation, has not shown the type of leadership and urgency that is needed,” said Public Advocate Jumaane Williams.

Williams and other stakeholders are looking past de Blasio, who has a week left in office.

“What we’re seeing so far with Omicron, intense surge but less impact. So that does not suggest doing things the way we did it last year,” de Blasio said, bucking the concerns of his own Department of Correction commissioner, who sent a letter to judges and attorneys pleading for the release of some detainees awaiting trial.

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