New York City Urges Anime NYC Attendees to Get Tested for COVID

The City of New York is urging those who attended the Anime NYC 2021 Convention to get tested for coronavirus (COVID-19).

"We are aware of a case of the Omicron variant identified in Minnesota that is associated with travel to a conference in New York City, and we should assume there is community spread of the variant in our city," said Mayor Bill de Blasio in a statement shared to the official City of New York Twitter. Mayor de Blasio stated that the city is "working closely with the State and the CDC, as well as the Javits Center's event organizers, and our Test and Trace Corps will be contacting conference attendees."

Anime NYC 2021 took place at the Javits Center in Manhattan between Nov. 18 and Nov. 22 and hosted over 53,000 people over the course of the week. The convention required masks and, according to de Blasio, followed NYC's Key2NYC requirement, which mandates that certain establishments and events must verify that all staff and attendees be fully vaccinated to enter. The statement continued to urge convention attendees, "especially anyone experiencing symptoms," to get tested for COVID-19 as soon as possible.

"I urge all New Yorkers to get vaccinated, wear a face mask while indoors and in public, and help out city beat this virus once and for all," de Blasio said, while also encouraging New Yorkers to take further precautions, such as continuing to practice social distancing. Per the statement, New York City's contact tracing program will be in touch with those who attended the convention.

Governor Kathy Hochul of New York released a statement on Thursday, Dec. 2 during a press conference as well, as reported by The New York Times, saying that the population should continue to take precautions by continuing to wear masks and get tested. According to Hochul, the AnimeNYC attendee who tested positive is a vaccinated Minnesota resident who experienced mild symptoms of COVID-19.

"We do anticipate there'll be more cases," Gov. Hochul said. "This is not cause for alarm; it was foreseen ever since it was first reported out of South Africa, that we knew it would come to New York State at some point."

Since that statement, Gov. Hochul reported on Twitter that there have been five confirmed cases of the omicron variant in New York State, reiterating that this is "not cause for alarm." She continued, "We knew this variant was coming and we have the tools to stop the spread."

Source: Twitter, 2; The New York Times