More seats, free tickets: New incentives to get vaccinated
Vaccinated NY baseball fans to return to normal capacity at stadiums
Fans attend the Opening Day game between the New York Mets and the Miami Marlins at Citi Field on April 8. Credit: Jim McIsaac
The New York Yankees and the New York Mets will create different sections with seats for people who are vaccinated and not vaccinated as they become able to expand capacity starting May 19.
Baseball fans who have gotten their shots will be able to enjoy normal seating on May 19 and be accompanied by children under 16, Cuomo said. Those unvaccinated will have to sit 6 feet apart as the stadiums enforce 33% capacity limits in those sections. All fans will be expected to wear masks.
Fans who have not gotten a shot will also be offered the chance to get one at the stadiums, with free tickets thrown in for a future game as a bonus.
"It’s convenient — you’re going there anyway," so get the shot, Cuomo said.
The new seating arrangements for the Mets and Yankees will also apply to all outdoor sports, performing arts and live entertainment, and horse and auto racing venues statewide, Cuomo said in a statement released later Wednesday afternoon.
And Cuomo, appearing with the team representatives at a news briefing, announced Broadway shows will be allowed to open at 100% capacity on Sept. 14, with tickets going on sale this week.
Meanwhile in Suffolk: County Executive Steve Bellone announced Wednesday that residents ages 21 and up who get vaccinated at county mass vaccination sites this month can get a free drink at several local breweries and wineries.
The number of new positives reported today: 116 in Nassau, 157 in Suffolk, 1,105 in New York City and 2,463 statewide.
The chart below shows the seven-day average positivity rates in New York City and in the state during the past month.
This chart shows the percentage of virus tests that were positive on average each day over a seven-day period.
Search a map of new cases and view charts showing the latest local trends in vaccinations, testing, hospitalizations, deaths and more.
During the pandemic, more people are donating their hair
Madison Leone, 7, of Hicksville, holds up hair she had cut at at Zippity Doos Cuts for Kids in Roslyn Heights on April 24. It will be made into a wig. Credit: Debbie Egan-Chin
A growing group of Long Islanders — and people across the country — have been donating their hair during the pandemic to charities that give free wigs to ill children and in some cases adults.
Like so much else, wig-making was almost halted during the pandemic. Factories closed, manufacturing costs climbed and hair donations initially paused. But donations then starting rising. Local wig charity Hair We Share co-founder Suzanne Chimera says her charity grew more than 200% during the pandemic. In just one month, the group received 1,888 donations, she said.
"I think people were sitting at home feeling helpless. They wanted to do something to help," she said in this story by Newsday's Joan Gralla.
How LIers can help with the COVID-19 crisis in India
A medical worker observes patients who have been infected by COVID-19 inside a makeshift COVID care facility in a sports stadium at the Commonwealth Games Village in New Delhi on Sunday. Credit: Getty Images
Nassau County Executive Laura Curran on Tuesday night urged residents to donate whatever they can to help with desperately needed emergency supplies for India, which is reeling from the coronavirus.
"Now the numbers are staggering," she said at a news conference in Mineola with State Sen. Kevin Thomas (D-Levittown) and members of the Indian American community. "The statistics that we’re hearing — India crossed the 20 million mark of reported cases. I’m hearing from people that it’s much higher than that, that there are so many more unreported cases."
India’s official count of coronavirus cases surpassed 20 million Tuesday, nearly doubling in the past three months, while deaths officially have passed 220,000.
Find organizations accepting donations for India in this story by reporter Keldy Ortiz.
These moms worked with their daughters on the front lines
Daughters Shekeya Washington, left, and Latoya Bucknor, right, with their mother, Novlet Davis, work at the St. Francis Hospital and Heart Center in Roslyn. Credit: Kendall Rodriguez
At 31 years old, Shekeya Washington was not above crawling into bed with her mother.
Washington, a registered nurse, had lost a 50-year-old man with COVID-19 that day in the medical intensive care unit at St. Francis Hospital in Roslyn. She knew her mother, Novlet Davis, 59, could comfort her, because Davis also works at St. Francis, as a nurse practitioner in the cardiothoracic department.
And also because, well, she’s mom.
Read more from this story by Newsday's Beth Whitehouse about how a mom's support has been invaluable for these four families of essential workers.
More to know
The Paycheck Protection Program has run out of money, and only a small number of new loan applications are being approved, officials said Wednesday.
The Wyandanch library, which has been closed since the pandemic started, must resume in-person services by June 1, according to a new directive from the state.
Bills that would mandate minimum staffing levels for hospitals and nursing homes to improve care and avoid a repeat of the critical shortages seen during the pandemic were passed by the State Legislature on Tuesday.
Snow days for NYC public schools will mean all-remote learning instead of canceling school if physical buildings must close, officials said.
News for you
Melissa Cerquin, owner of the new High Score Pinball Arcade in the Westfield South Shore Mall in Bay Shore, plays a machine on April 18. Credit: Newsday/Thomas A. Ferrara
A new arcade in town with 40-plus pinball machines. Long Island is going back in time with an arcade dedicated to pinball in Bay Shore. High Score Pinball Arcade opened last month at the Westfield South Shore Mall and features more than 40 pinball machines from the last 50 years. See the details.
Governors Ball Music Festival coming this fall. Billie Eilish, A$AP Rocky, J Balvin, Post Malone, DaBaby and Megan Thee Stallion will perform at the festival Sept. 24-26 in Queens at the Citi Field complex, the stadium's exterior area. Tickets go on sale Thursday at noon.
Looking for mini-golf? Get outdoors with one of these miniature golf courses around Long Island, where kids of all ages can play.
Plus, this week: Join us and Long Island LitFest Thursday night for a virtual discussion with the award-winning Tovah Feldshuh as she discusses her life, career and new memoir, "Lilyville." Register here.
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Commentary
Not much change
Credit: Newsday/Matt Davies
Newsday’s Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist Matt Davies has political cartoons on the pandemic, then and now, on Long Island and beyond. See more of his cartoons.
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.
