Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that 140,000 New Yorkers had received one dose of a coronavirus vaccine as of Monday, with another 259,0000 doses expected to be received by the state this week.
Of the 259,000 anticipated doses, 139,400 will be coming from Pfizer and 119,600 from Moderna, Cuomo said. High-risk hospital workers, EMS employees, medical examiners, coroners, funeral workers, and staff and residents of the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities and Office of Medical Health facilities will be prioritized in obtaining the vaccines, Cuomo said.
“We can see the light at the end of the tunnel and New York is leading the nation in distributing the vaccine to get us there, but as we approach the end of the holiday season, the rest of us must stay tough,” Cuomo said on Monday. “Remember – if we act smart, then we can avoid shutdowns and win this war.”
President-elect Joe Biden continued his criticism of President Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic and the rate of vaccine distribution on Tuesday. Biden promised the American people that 100 million vaccine shots would be conducted across the nation within his first 100 days in office. Since the current vaccines require two shots, Biden’s prediction would result in 50 million Americans obtaining the vaccine.
Biden said infections as a result of the holidays will produce an increase in deaths into February. Biden anticipated that the country may not see improvement until “well into March,” and said the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed, established to put the vaccine into the arms of Americans as quickly as possible, is “falling far behind.”
“As I long feared and warned, the efforts to distribute the vaccine is not progressing as it should,” Biden said. “If the pace of the vaccination distribution continues as it is now, it is going to take years, not months, to vaccinate the American people.”
According to Cuomo, Northwell Health, which is spearheading the vaccine distribution in New York, is required to submit a plan for Long Island to the state government by the first week in January.
Nearly 900 people on the North Shore tested positive for the coronavirus over the past week, bringing the total to nearly 11,000 since the pandemic hit in March.
The figures were the most up-to-date ones that the Nassau County Department of Health provided on Wednesday.
After trailing the Great Neck peninsula, the only North Shore area to be deemed a “yellow zone” by the state, the area that incorporates the Willistons and Mineola had 2,280 cases as of Wednesday, the most of all analyzed areas. The Village of Mineola once again saw the highest increase of cases over the one-week period with nearly 90 new cases. Mineola’s 994 cases and Garden City’s 870 cases accounted for 1,864 of the 2,280 cases in the area.
The Great Neck peninsula saw an increase of 161 cases over the past week, one of the lowest one-week increments over the past month, according to figures. The Village of Great Neck’s 679 coronavirus cases were the most throughout the peninsula, followed by the Village of Kings Point’s 460 and the Village of Great Neck Plaza’s 387.
The New Hyde Park area accounted for 2,260 of the North Shore’s cases, with North New Hyde Park having the third most confirmed positives, 832, out of any analyzed area. The villages of Floral Park, with 714 cases, and New Hyde Park, with 537 cases, were also among the top seven villages or unincorporated town areas in terms of positive tests and have been for the entire month of December, according to Health Department statistics.
The Port Washington area eclipsed 1,000 total cases since the beginning of the pandemic, and the area’s 1,062 cases accounted for nearly 10 percent of the North Shore’s total cases. Sands Point and Port Washington North both surpassed 100 cases over the past week, according to the figures.
Municipalities and unincorporated areas that stretch into more than one North Shore area such as Flower Hill, Herricks, Albertson, Garden City Park, Searingtown and North Hills were counted separately and accounted for 1,450 cases, according to county statistics.
Manhasset, which has remained comparatively low since the beginning of the pandemic, had 726 cases, with around half coming from town-governed areas. It is the only analyzed area with fewer than 800 cases.
The Village of Roslyn’s 200 cases may not seem high compared with other North Shore areas, but the cases per 1,000 residents, 70.13, is one of the highest rates in Nassau County, according to Health Department figures. Despite this, the village has seen one of the lowest one-month increases of any analyzed municipality, with fewer than 50 new confirmed cases since Nov. 11, according to county statistics. The Village of Roslyn Heights had 340 total cases as of Wednesday, and the Village of East Hills had 247.
A total of 85,023 Nassau County residents had tested positive for the virus as of Wednesday, and 2,374 had died since the pandemic began. More than 650 Nassau residents remained hospitalized due to the virus, with 74 in intensive care units and 48 on ventilators, according to county figures. The county’s seven-day positivity rate was 6.16 percent as of Wednesday.
“The risk of contracting COVID in Nassau County is higher than it has been in months, which calls for increased vigilance from all of us,” Nassau County Executive Laura Curran said on Tuesday. “Let’s keep wearing our masks and avoiding unsafe gatherings so we can avoid lockdowns and build momentum for a strong recovery in 2021.”
Throughout New York, more than 939,000 people had tested positive for the coronavirus as of Wednesday, according to state figures. Of that total, more than 37,000 people had died. In New York City, 417,000 people had contracted the virus, and 25,008 had died.
