The SantaCon surge has hit NYC

• NYC is seeing another Covid wave — positivity rates have doubled in the past three days.
• It's all thanks to Omicron, the more infectious, but maybe not more severe, variant.

All of a sudden, it feels like spring 2020 in NYC again. Broadway shows are getting canceled, colleges have moved final exams online, and lines for Covid tests are snaking around the block.

We can all thank Omicron, the latest variant of the coronavirus, for ruining the holiday cheer.

As of December 6, there were only 12 confirmed Omicron cases in New York state, with seven in the NYC metro area. State officials acknowledged it was the beginning of the community spread of Omicron, with Gove. Kathy Hochul emphasizing that the new cases weren't a cause for alarm.

But since last weekend — which saw the return of SantaCon, NYC's biggest event of debauchery and drunken revelry — many a New Yorker's phones have blown up with texts from friends saying they'd been exposed to Covid. Positivity rates have doubled in the past three days, with cases in the city up more than 40% in one day, recording the highest one-day total since January 14.

"We've never seen this before in #NYC," Dr. Jay Varma, an epidemiologist and former senior public health adviser to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, tweeted.

—Jay Varma (@DrJayVarma) December 16, 2021

The mayor himself called the variant's rapid spread "an urgent situation" at a recent press event, adding, "it sure is clear that it spreads fast."

Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi said at a news conference that NYC's current transmission rates present an "alarming trend" of rising cases.

It all comes on the heels of an annual event in which hundreds of New Yorkers dressed in red suits and elf hats storm the streets of Manhattan: SantaCon.

The SantaCon surge

SantaCon returned on December 11 this year after being canceled last year due to pandemic concerns.

The pub crawl is a "charitable, political, nonsensical Santa Claus convention that happens once a year to spread absurdist joy," according to its website.

An organizer told CBS that to participate in the all-day event, everyone had to have proof of vaccination, but one New Yorker told CBS she thought it was "a bad idea" given Omicron's arrival.

Another participant didn't share those same concerns: "At this point, what can we do? We're going to enjoy ourselves. Some people might get sick, but we got vaccinated."

To be sure, SantaCon isn't entirely to blame for the Omicron wave. Companies have been holding in-person holiday parties and NYC nightlife has been back to normal for quite some time. Health restrictions, like mask mandates and social distancing, have been increasingly disregarded.

It was all part of the "new normal" provided by a city that was the first to implement a vaccine requirement and now boasts a vaccination rate of 77%. But Omicron has proven to be more contagious than Delta, and more evasive of vaccines.

Though vaccines are shown to reduce the risk of severe disease from Omicron, studies show the initial two shots of Pfizer and Moderna aren't as adept at preventing infection. While booster shots provide higher levels of protection, less than 20% New Yorkers were boosted the weekend Omicron hit the city.

Omicron is becoming the global strain at twice the rate faster than Delta, per a recent Morgan Stanley note by Matthew Harrison. His team predicted that Omicron will peak in 10 to 12 weeks, with daily cases two to three times the Delta wave.

The Washington Post reported that it may take weeks for the economy to realize Omicron's impact, but restaurant reservations and tourism are already declining. The spike in cases has also impacted a number of companies' plans to return to the office.

On Thursday, New York state reported the most new cases in a single day during the entire course of the pandemic.