-Tamara’Shanay-

Cousins!

New York is buckling down EARLY following reports of a newly detected variant that could potentially cause a Covid-19 spike this winter!

NY governor Kathy Hochul has officially declared a state of emergency warning ahead of any circulation of the new variant as well as the already-circulating Delta variant.

According to the NBC News, the declaration is one the first emergency steps taken by a state in the U.S. against the newly discovered variant identified as Omicron.

It has been indicated that the declaration is scheduled to go into effect on Dec. 3. It will allow the state to acquire pandemic-fighting supplies, increase hospital capacity and also fight potential staffing shortages.

NBC says, the variant contains nearly 50 concerning mutations from the original SARS CoV-2 virus that originally surfaced in China back in 2019.

“We continue to see warning signs of spikes in COVID this winter, and while the new Omicron variant has yet to be detected in New York State, it’s coming,” Kathy warned in a forwarded tweet.