Health care workers Mary Ann Brussels Jabon and her husband, Naph Jabon, share their experiences of the pandemic and raising baby Lyon during a ceremony commemorating a year of COVID-19 at Northwell Health's Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park on Thursday. Credit: Johnny Milano

This story was reported by Matthew Chayes, Lisa L. Colangelo, David Reich-Hale and Joie Tyrrell. It was written by Colangelo.

The number of COVID-19 cases across the state continues to drop, but Long Island still tops other regions for highest rate of new positives over a seven-day period, according to statistics released on Thursday.

There were 7,593 new positive cases of COVID-19 reported on Wednesday out of 270,089 test results in the state, including 687 in Nassau County and 654 in Suffolk County. While the state's seven-day average of new cases was 3.12%, Long Island's was 4.18%.

Meanwhile, the state took action to ramp up vaccinations as it also moves to reopen more businesses and relax rules on public gatherings enacted during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic almost a year ago.

As of Thursday, 4.96 million first and second doses of the vaccine had been administered across the state out of 5.5 million doses that have been received. On Long Island, 606,152 first and second doses have been administered out of 709,360 doses received.

Two Long Island locations are among 12 pop-up vaccination sites for COVID-19 being set up in communities around the state over the next few days with the goal of inoculating more than 4,000 people, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced Thursday.

The sites will be located in places such as religious institutions, schools and neighborhood centers connected with underserved communities.

Uniondale High School in Uniondale held a vaccination clinic Thursday morning, and B.A.P.S. Swaminarayan Hindu Temple in Melville is scheduled to hold one on Friday from 8 a.m. to noon. The state is also opening pop-up sites in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens.

Cuomo's office pointed out the daily statewide positivity rate on Wednesday was 2.81%, the lowest since Nov. 21.

There were 60 additional deaths due to COVID-19 recorded by the state on Wednesday, including five in Nassau and three in Suffolk.

"As we continue this battle, we cannot get complacent. There are precautions and guidelines in place that we know work — wearing masks, socially distancing, hand washing and, when eligible, getting vaccinated," Cuomo said in a statement.

Nursing homes grapple with visiting rules

Slightly more than one-third of the 610 nursing homes in the state have started allowing visitors as part of new guidance issued by the state a little more than a week ago.

It allows nursing homes to permit visitors without being tested if the positivity level in a county is under 5% on a seven-day rolling average. If the positivity level rises to between 5% and 10%, visitors must test negative for COVID-19 before the visit.

But the sticking point for a majority of nursing homes remains clearing a difficult standard: Nursing homes being free of COVID-19 cases for 14 days.

Only 17 of 77 nursing homes on Long Island have cleared that hurdle, according to the state department of health, which defended the rule, adding that New York is following guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In adhering to the new visitation guidance from the state's Department of Health, "Nursing homes are taking the proper steps to protect the lives of nursing home residents," said Jeffrey Hammond, public information officer for the state DOH. "Due to continued community spread, keeping this virus out of congregate settings remains our top priority, and asymptomatic spread remains a concern in all corners of the state. This is why nursing homes must be COVID-free for 14 days to be visitation eligible."

The stringent rules have been criticized by some nursing home operators and families who have not seen their loved ones for close to a year.

"We know the New York State Department of Health’s 14-day COVID-free mandate was intended to keep our most vulnerable population safe; in reality, it has set a bar that few nursing homes in the state have been able to meet, given the prevalence of COVID-19 in our surrounding communities," said Stuart B. Almer, Gurwin’s CEO. "It’s been a year, and we need to reunite our residents with their families. We are confident it can be done safely, and we are hoping there’s a way we can make that a reality."

Dolores Zanchelli, of Deer Park, said her mother, Gina Compierchio, a resident of Gurwin Jewish Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in Commack, "says all the time that she wants to come home, because she’s depressed. She hates that no one comes and sees her."

Zanchelli said the state should consider a resident’s mental health as part of the policymaking.

"You’re opening movie theaters, catering homes and stores, why can’t we see our loved ones?" Zanchelli said. "Visiting them is crucial to their well-being."

Districts seek return to classrooms

School districts across Long Island are seeking to have more students return to classrooms for in-person learning, including Middle Country, Lindenhurst, Uniondale, Connetquot and Hempstead.

The Middle Country district posted on its website that high school juniors were back Monday, while sophomores will be able to return March 15 and ninth-graders on April 5.

In addition, the district said all eighth-grade students who are receiving hybrid instruction will return to five-day in-person instruction on March 15.

Lindenhurst Middle School also will return to five-day instruction for eighth-graders, starting Monday. Parents can still request remote instruction, but there will be no more hybrid options for eighth-graders.

Uniondale schools — where 90% of students have been in remote learning — will open their doors to sixth- and ninth-grade students starting Monday.

The Connetquot school district alerted parents in a note that it is proposing a phased reentry plan to bring back all students in grades six through 12 to full-time classes starting March 15. The plan is expected to be proposed before the Board of Education on March 9 and includes the installation of desk barriers. It also would allow fourth- and fifth-grade classes to rejoin instead of spending half a day with a teacher and the other half with a teaching assistant.

Meanwhile, Hempstead schools announced the high school will pivot to remote instruction through March 10, citing an abundance of caution. Students may return to school on March 11 to join classes on their next scheduled cohort day, read a note on the district's website.

In New York City, the fire department will go door to door across the boroughs to administer the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to homebound seniors, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Thursday, starting immediately at Co-op City in the Bronx and Friday in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn.

Rosters of seniors to target are being compiled by home health care agencies, meal delivery programs and other senior-citizen agencies, said Lorraine Cortés-Vázquez, the city’s commissioner of the Department for the Aging. Sign-up is also available at nyc.gov/Vax4NYC.

"The Fire Department gets a list of individuals, and then they go out and actually vaccinate those individuals placed on the roster," she said.

There will be vaccinations available in areas where large numbers of older people tend to live, as well as the door-to-door operation, FDNY Commissioner Dan Nigro said.

De Blasio said the Johnson & Johnson vaccine arrived Thursday, with the door-to-door program beginning imminently. He said the city has 16,300 Johnson & Johnson doses on hand, with 8,000 more in transit.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misstated the total number of new COVID-19 cases in the state from Wednesday's test results. A total of 7,593 people tested positive out of 270,089 test results, according to state figures.

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