A state of emergency was issued for New York Friday as the state's governor warned a new coronavirus variant discovered in Africa would soon turn up close to home.

It's coming, governor Kathy Hochul warned of the Omicron variant that was recently discovered in South Africa.

The executive order allows the Department of Health to cancel non-urgent scheduled surgeries if medical centers' capacity runs low, which is defined as having less than 10 percent of staffed beds available. The cancellations haven't been done since the height of the pandemic last year.

source: https://patch.com/new-york/new-york-city/state-emergency-declared-ny-prepares-omicron-variant