COLUMBIA, S.C. — Happy 2022 from WLTX, as the nation enters the new year with hope for the future.
In Columbia, the annual Famously Hot New Year's Celebration was canceled months ago, but the city still decided to put on a fireworks display above the State House. It was the first time in two years the fireworks went off, after the entire live event was canceled last year.
While there was no large central celebration in the Midlands, many people held private celebrations or went out to bars and restaurants. However, as they did, health officials warned of limiting gatherings due to a massive spike in coronavirus cases in the last 10 days. Just hours before midnight, the state's health agency announced almost 9,000 new daily COVID cases, an all-time one-day record for the state.
“In the era of the Omicron variant, we are seeing the virus spread so rapidly that case counts are skyrocketing and hospital admissions due to the disease are increasing," said SCDHEC Public Health Director Dr. Brannon Traxler. "This is all the more reason why it is so important to get maximally vaccinated against COVID-19.”
Still, this year marks a big change from where we were a year ago when there was no vaccine widely available. It's also hoped that the new omicron variant--which is driving the case surge--may turn out to be milder than previous strains of the illness.
Elsewhere around the country, the annual New Year's Eve ball drop in New York City's Times Square was tempered due to the pandemic. The city said it limited the number of people Friday to about 15,000 in-person spectators. That's far fewer than the 50,000 revelers initially envisioned. Doubts swirled whether New York would have to cancel this year’s bash as the city posted record numbers of COVID cases in the days leading to it.
The hope, of course, is that things do get better in 2021. So from all of us at WLTX, have a safe and happy new year!