New York City’s top public health adviser rules out COVID-19 herd immunity

Mayor de Blasio’s top public health adviser batted down the idea that herd immunity is responsible for the leveling off of coronavirus cases in New York City on Friday, despite a loosely enforced quarantine and the city’s first stages of reopening.

“It would be incorrect to attribute the current status of cases to immunity because there is a lot we don’t know about immunity, and there’s also what we know, which is that the vast majority of New Yorkers actually weren’t infected,” Jay Varma, the mayor’s senior adviser for public health, said.

The relatively low rate of infections makes herd immunity “very unlikely,” he added.

Varma said that the “most likely” explanation for the current situation is a combination of factors, including people continuing to socially distance and exercising good hygiene, as well as an increase in COVID-19 testing and tracing.

De Blasio also cited New Yorkers’ devotion to social distancing and the city’s test and trace program as the biggest factors in flattening the curve.

“New Yorkers learned powerful lessons and then they really owned those lessons in terms of wearing face coverings, in terms of social distancing,” he said. “We have to look at how much discipline and focus there’s been.”

Their pronouncements came as Gov. Cuomo released new data on the state’s progress with coronavirus.

Cuomo confirmed an additional 786 new cases Friday, bringing the statewide total over the 400,000 mark to 400,299 cases.

Statewide, 1.06% of COVID-19 tests came back positive on Thursday.

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