NY expects vaccine supply to increase 5%
Cuomo: NY expects increase in weekly vaccine supply, but needs more
A woman receives the vaccine Monday at a pop-up site at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem. Credit: Justin Lane/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Cuomo said the latest supply increase — on top of recent boosts of 16% and 5% — is "significant" and "helpful" but "not proportionate to the need" of New York.
"We now have 10 million New Yorkers waiting on 300,000 doses" delivered per week, said Cuomo, who updated reporters after a phone conference with the White House and the National Governor’s Association.
In addition, he said the state will soon be allowed to reallocate unused vaccine doses set aside for nursing homes.
The White House also announced Tuesday that vaccine doses will be sent directly to federally qualified health centers across the U.S. starting the week of Feb. 15. That initiative will start with one in each state and expand to 250.
The Biden administration has gradually stepped up distribution over its first weeks in office but is limited by how much the manufacturers of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines can produce. Cuomo said his hopes are pinned on authorization of a third vaccine option by Johnson & Johnson, a matter expected to be considered over the next several weeks.
The number of new positives reported today: 820 in Nassau, 712 in Suffolk, 4,352 in New York City and 7,866 statewide.
The map below shows the concentration of new cases across Long Island.
This map shows the concentration of new cases in each community, with Nassau data as of Friday and Suffolk data as of Monday.
Search that map and view charts showing the latest local trends in testing, hospitalizations, deaths and more.
Reimbursement of funeral expenses for some families of virus victims
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez speaks at the news conference with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Monday in Queens. Credit: Corey Sipkin
The Federal Emergency Management Agency will reimburse families up to $7,000 for COVID-related burial and funeral expenses through a $2 billion national disaster fund, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez announced Monday.
The funding, which was included in the December coronavirus stimulus relief bill, includes about $260 million for New Yorkers — much of it intended for primarily low-income residents in neighborhoods at the epicenter of the pandemic, including Queens and Long Island.
"If you are a family that couldn't afford or had to just stretch and went without rent or went without food or anything else so you might get your loved one a decent funeral and burial, you can get reimbursed for up to $7,000," Schumer said.
The program is retroactive to expenses incurred between Jan. 20, 2020, and Dec. 31, 2020, and lawmakers hope to extend funding to 2021 in the next relief bill.
Escaping COVID with crafts and a side of drinks
Lorraine DiCarlo, owner of The Vintage Canvas, helps Lori Rubin, of East Northport, in a knitting class in Farmingdale on Saturday. Credit: Kendall Rodriguez
Events like "sip and paint" and crafty variations like knitting or sign painting became popular at art studios and bars and restaurants before the pandemic.
Now, they've had to adapt to COVID-19 with new protocols, take-home kits, virtual instruction or private backyard events.
Nearly a dozen women fended off cabin fever on Saturday in Farmingdale at the "Chunky Blanket" workshop, where they knit blankets with thick strands of chenille yarn and also brought a bottle for a few hours of escape.
"They just need the break," said Lorraine DiCarlo, the owner and instructor at The Vintage Canvas, an art studio on Main Street in Farmingdale. "People are more willing to come out, now more than ever."
To plan or not to plan? Engaged couples set their eyes on 2022
Stephanie Carroll, 28, is engaged to Kevin King, 29, of Patchogue. Credit: Steve Badolato
With 2020 in the rearview mirror and vaccines being rolled out, it might seem that 2021 will be the year for postponed large weddings to finally happen.
But many engaged Long Islanders say obstacles remain for taking an elaborate trip down the aisle any time soon — ranging from booked-up venues to guests still not being comfortable.
"Unfortunately, I don’t think weddings are going to get back to normal until 2022," says Babylon-based celebrity wedding planner Michael Russo. "They’re still kind of on hold."
Even Dr. Anthony Fauci has said it’s "quite reasonable" to expect that it won’t be until 2022 at the earliest that weddings — as we remember them — can be seen as a safe bet.
More to know
Robke’s, the popular Northport Italian restaurant that had its liquor license suspended two weeks ago, got its license reinstated on Monday afternoon.
The state pension fund has rebounded to almost $22 billion above its value before the pandemic hit, said state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.
Major League Baseball and the Players Association finalized the sport’s health and safety protocols for the 2021 spring training and the regular season, sources said.
Dozens of New York celebrities will be a part of NY PopsUp, a statewide festival of pop-up events aimed at relaunching a performing arts industry that's been brought to a standstill.
A team of scientists dismissed an unlikely theory that the coronavirus leaked from a Chinese lab and instead said Tuesday it most likely first appeared in humans after jumping from an animal.
News for you
Sandra Timmoney and her daughter Kaitlyn, 10, of Bay Shore, with Max Scherer, 10, make bird feeders from pine cones at the Center for Science Teaching and Learning in Rockville Centre on Jan. 30. Credit: Kendall Rodriguez
What the kids can do on February break. Children will be off from school, and parents may want to take advantage of some programs or activities that can give kids a chance to get out of the house. From the Science Museum of Long Island to the Sweetbriar Nature Center or a virtual option, here are eight ideas.
New York Philharmonic on-demand. The Philharmonic stopped large-scale live concerts in March because of the pandemic, but now it launched an on-demand video and audio streaming service called NYPhil+, available for $50 annually or $4.99 monthly.
A pizza truck debut in East Setauket. During a year of restaurant closures, Vincent’s New York Wood-Fired Pizza is a rare success story. In search of a pandemic-proof concept, Vincent DeMarzo pursued a long-deferred dream of owning a pizza truck.
Plus: During Newsday Live's free virtual event Wednesday, local experts discuss high-risk school sports and COVID-19. Submit your questions and register in advance here.
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Commentary
Credit: Getty Images/Luis Alvarez
Medical professionals must squarely face vaccine fears. Qanta A. Ahmed, an attending critical care specialist at NYU-Langone, writes for Newsday Opinion: Before the patient spoke, I knew something was amiss, a heaviness in the air, a despondency in the shoulders.
"I thought when we would have the vaccine, things would get better. But nothing’s better. There’s no end in sight."
Many patients have shared the same feelings with me recently in my office in Garden City. Though we all acknowledge the miracle of having vaccines a half decade earlier than expected, the arrival of COVID-19 vaccines has yielded a new anxiety in a minefield of pandemic-related anxieties with which America, and much of the world, finds itself grappling. For those who want it: the anxiety of accessing a vaccine in an agonizingly slow rollout; for those who do not: the anxiety of unknowns of a new vaccine. Many harbor both fears: fearful they will not be able to receive a lifesaving technology whose long-term safety remains to be seen.
Anthropologist Hugh Gusterson examined Americans’ fears in "The Insecure American." Our fears of the other — why we feel safer inside gated communities; our fears of disease, death and dying; our fears of the homeless and our greater fear of joining them; our very real fear of destitution as Americans see real insecurities spiraling upward along the social ladder — the ever-shrinking middle class is no longer secure.
The pandemic formed a perfect maelstrom of fears — an invisible pathogen that exploits social interactions; a devastating first wave that placed New York at the global epicenter of the worst pandemic in a century; our self-inflicted economic catastrophe that has only expanded in the almost one year since the first person in New York was infected by COVID-19 and hit New York economically harder than anywhere else in America; and now, a new vaccine that poses an impossible decision for many Americans — a real-life, high-stakes game theory gamble: Should I risk being vaccinated, or should I risk being not? Keep reading.
Erin Serpico is an assistant web producer who joined Newsday in November 2018. Originally from New Jersey, she now covers community events and produces local content for newsday.com while also helping run the homepage.
