NY targets 21 LI ZIP codes with low vax rates
Program announced as new cases keep going up
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo speaks Monday during a news conference at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. Credit: AP / Richard Drew
The program will focus on 117 ZIP codes throughout the state, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said Monday, and will use community-based organizations to reach people who have declined to get the shot.
Some 61% of the communities are in New York City. The Long Island communities represent 18% of the total and include parts of Calverton, Wyandanch, Elmont and elsewhere. The 117 ZIP codes overall contain 6.7% of the state's population, and many of the locations are in poor, largely minority communities, Cuomo said.
He announced the program as new confirmed cases of the virus continue to rise, with the numbers in the state increasing sixfold in the last month, Newsday's Bart Jones reports. New daily cases jumped from 346 on June 26 to 1,982 in test results from Sunday, the governor said.
Some 75% of adults in the state have received at least one vaccine shot, Cuomo said. But that leaves 25% who have not — a total of 3.5 million people.
The number of new positives reported today: 123 in Nassau, 131 in Suffolk, 743 in New York City and 1,296 statewide.
The chart below shows the number of new coronavirus cases confirmed each day in Nassau and Suffolk.
Credit: Newsday
Search a map of new cases and view charts showing the latest local trends in testing, hospitalizations, deaths and more.
De Blasio rolls out new vaccine mandate
Mayor Bill de Blasio in the Bronx on May 7. Credit: Sipa USA / Lev Radin via AP
All New York City government employees including police and firefighters must be vaccinated against COVID-19 by Sept. 13 or undergo weekly testing, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Monday.
The mayor issued the mandate as the number of new COVID-19 cases and positivity levels are rising sharply amid the spread of the delta variant, while a substantial segment of the population remains unvaccinated against the deadly virus.
De Blasio had previously announced that front-line city hospital and health care workers must be vaccinated or undergo weekly testing starting Aug. 2, Jones and Matthew Chayes report.
He also said Monday that city workers in congregant settings such as senior centers must abide by the same mandate starting Aug. 16.
In a statement sent by spokeswoman Freddi Goldstein, the DC 37 union's executive director, Henry Garrido, said: "If City Hall intends to test our members weekly, they must first meet us at the table to bargain. While we encourage everyone to get vaccinated and support measures to ensure our members' health and well-being, weekly testing is clearly subject to mandatory bargaining. New York City is a union town and that cannot be ignored."
De Blasio indicated the mandates are not over and that he plans to issue more directives to bring the virus under control. "We're going to keep climbing this ladder," he said.
Shoplifting on the rise at LI groceries
Cashier Reena Hurtado of Freeport checks out a customer at Gala Foods in Freeport. Credit: Debbie Egan-Chin
Masks have provided cover from more than just the spread of the COVID virus for the past year or so.
They also have provided anonymity for shoplifters, retailers and security, experts said.
Mask wearing, high unemployment and the widespread use of opaque reusable bags are some of the factors that have contributed to a significant increase in supermarket shoplifting, they said.
"It's absolutely increased at an exponential rate. … It's something that we're not used to seeing in Uncle Giuseppe's locations," said Carl DelPrete, co-founder and chief executive officer of Uncle Giuseppe's Marketplace, in Newsday reporter Tory N. Parrish's story.
The Melville-based chain of full-service grocery stores specialize in Italian food. DelPrete declined to give specific theft numbers for the family-owned company of nine high-end stores, seven of which are on Long Island.
The state's ban on retailers' use of single-use plastic shopping bags is another factor, local retailers said. The ban, which the state began enforcing in October, has led to more shoplifting by thieves placing merchandise in their bags and bypassing the checkout lanes, they said.
Firm bounces into pandemic game-changer
Tom Schaefer, co-owner of Laxworx and T&M Fabrication, right, alongside co-owner Mike Bergamine, with the Rebounder. Credit: Newsday / Steve Pfost
Little did Tom Schaefer realize when he tinkered with the design of his kids' backyard lacrosse equipment that, years later, it would be a game-changer for his business.
He is co-owner of T & M Fabrication in Patchogue, which makes custom and mass-produced fiberglass tooling and parts for various industries.
Three years ago, he capitalized on his expertise in boatbuilding and fiberglass production to fine-tune a piece of lacrosse practice equipment that he had made for his kids after he tired of replacing their backyard softwall lacrosse rebounders, which he says rusted and ripped. He created a subsidiary, Laxworx, which makes the Rebounder that hit the market in 2018, and the upgraded Lacrosse Hardwall Rebounder 2.0 last year.
The pandemic impacted both the parent company and the subsidiary. One of T & M Fabrication's biggest customers was school bus manufacturers, for which it made complete sets of fiberglass parts. "This industry took a massive downturn immediately," Schaefer said.
But the pandemic also gave. "People quickly realized they would be in quarantine and wanted to set themselves up to train on their own," Schaefer said. Rebounder 2.0 sales took off, to about triple what they had been the previous year for the original product. The sales helped the company weather the blow from the drop in other sectors.
"Because we are diversified in what we manufacture we were able to survive the curveball that the pandemic threw us," Schaefer says in this Q&A with Sheryl Nance-Nash for Newsday.
More to know
The nation's leading infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, warned Sunday that the U.S. is "going in the wrong direction" as the highly transmissible delta variant of COVID-19 and low vaccination rates in certain areas are spurring an increase in new infections.
And a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that most Americans who haven't been vaccinated against COVID-19 say they are unlikely to get the shots and doubt they would work against the aggressive delta variant despite evidence they do.
The Town of Babylon has launched the Direct Support Program to give $3 million in grants to businesses and nonprofits that are still struggling due to COVID-19.
News for you
Craig Thornton, 13, of Freeport, gets a COVID-19 vaccine at Freeport High School on July 15. Credit: Newsday / Steve Pfost
Special youth vaccine days. Nassau's health department is planning to host COVID-19 "Student Vaccination Days" aimed at children ages 12 and older from Tuesday through Saturday at Kennedy Park in the Village of Hempstead, in partnership with Northwell Health and the village. "Schools are going to open in September," County Executive Laura Curran said last week. "We really want our young people to have as normal a school experience as possible, and getting young people vaccinated — 12 and over — is incredibly important."
Concerts are coming back to Jones Beach. So what do you need to know before you go back for a show? Here's a rundown.
"Nobody Does This Tour." No comedians will have performed at UBS Arena at Belmont Park in Elmont … until Sebastian Maniscalco does so Dec. 27. He announced the gig for the arena, opening later this year, on YouTube.
Plus: Vegan ice cream. It's a popular thing. Here's the tale of how we got our own flavor.
Commentary
Drivers line up for the COVID-19 vaccine at Jones Beach in January. Credit: James Carbone
Planning for a pandemic. The Newsday editorial board writes: The early days of the COVID-19 epidemic on Long Island were marked by chaos and confusion in search of a wider plan. Nurses and volunteer EMTs scrounged for sufficient masks and gowns. The state, county, local businesses and school systems pondered shutdowns. Nursing home deaths soared. Hospitals were in many ways left to fend for themselves.
The scramble was clear as health care facilities rushed to add capacity. "We outgrew what we historically thought were really good surge plans very quickly," says John D'Angelo, Northwell Health’s chief of integrated operations.
Nassau and Suffolk doctors even looked across the ocean for guidance. "A lot of the information we got was from European doctors' experiences who were active on social media or in group chats," says Adhi Sharma, chief medical officer at Mount Sinai South Nassau. Early on, "it was this or nothing."
These kinds of smart, if ad hoc moves, make clear that we need a better plan for future disasters, something more comprehensive than the blueprints that hospitals and government agencies and first responders had in 2020. To do so, Long Island needs a regional task force to gather information about lessons learned and to prepare a road map for action when the next pandemic or crisis arrives. Keep reading.
