Omicron Deals Big Blow to New York City Tourism

Just when New York City had heralded the return of Broadway in September with great fanfare and enthusiastic, adoring crowds, the City’s tourism is about to suffer another blow.

The Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus is raging in New York City and New York State, with positive cases rising to the point where 21,027 new cases were reported statewide on Friday, December 17 – the highest number in almost a full year.

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As a result, a handful of Broadway shows shut down temporarily this week and the popular Radio City Music Hall Christmas Show canceled the remainder of its performances at the height of the holiday season. That was a tremendous blow given the show still had two more weeks of performances with up to six shows per day.

“This is changing so quickly. The numbers are going up exponentially by day,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said during a Friday appearance on CNN, according to NBC News4 New York.

The saving grace with Omicron is that while it is more transmissible, it is less deadly and hospitalizations have not been overwhelming.

But the Delta variant, which reared its ugly head during the late summer, is still out there as well.

“We were already headed for a winter surge with delta, which is a very concerning thing in its own right,” Dr. Denis Nash, the executive director of the Institute for Implementation Science in Population Health at the City University of New York, told NBC News4. “But then you layer on top of that the new omicron variant, which is more transmissible from an infection standpoint.”

For now, The Broadway League issued a press release making sure people know that any show cancellations have been temporary and on a case-by-case, theater-by-theater basis.

“Broadway is open for business, and we encourage you to see a show today! While most shows are performing as usual, some shows may suspend performances out of an abundance of caution and care for the actors, musicians, crew, and audience members,” the group said in a statement.

In order to help consumers access up-to-the-minute information, The Broadway League has created a new website, BwayToday.com, to help them find schedules of every Broadway show currently playing, as well as upcoming special holiday performance times.

“The magic of Broadway is that it is live in every way,” said Charlotte St. Martin, President of The Broadway League. “If an actor or crew member gets sick, we take it very seriously. Our highest priority is the health and safety of everyone working on the show and everyone in the audience.”

All eyes are now on outgoing New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. The Mayor triumphantly announced months ago that New York City would have its annual Times Square mega-party on New Year’s Eve to watch the ball drop after canceling the celebration last year.

De Blasio said he would monitor the situation in the coming days.

New York isn’t the only place where Omicron is spoiling events. Sports leagues have been hit hard by outbreaks, to the point where the National Football League rescheduled one game on Saturday, December 18, and two originally supposed to be played today, Sunday, December 19, Monday and Tuesday.

Three teams in the National Hockey League have suspended games until at least December 23.

A production of “A Christmas Carol” in Los Angeles was also shut down.