COVID-19 numbers ease again in New York as vaccination push blunts surge
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NEW YORK — The city just made it easier for New Yorkers to get vaccinated.
Starting Saturday, New Yorkers ages 50 and above were able to get their COVID-19 shot at a city-run site without making an appointment, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced.
“Our priority for the next few months is clear: we need to vaccinate as many New Yorkers as possible,” de Blasio said in a statement. “By making it easier for New Yorkers 50 and older to get vaccinated, we are on our way to fully vaccinating 5 million New Yorkers by June.”
Before the change, only New Yorkers 75 and older were allowed to do walk-in appointments at city-run sites, including YMCAs throughout the five boroughs, Lehman College in the Bronx, the Brooklyn Army Terminal, City College in Manhattan and CitiField. Some of the sites are run 24 hours a day.
Coronavirus hospitalizations in the state dipped slightly to nearly four-month lows as the vaccination push continues to blunt a feared fourth wave of the pandemic, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Saturday.
Just 3,833 New Yorkers were hospitalized with COVID-19 on Friday, down a notch from the previous day to a number not seen since the end of November.
About 8,235 people tested positive for coronavirus, but the positivity rate was 2.87% and the weekly average stood at 3.03%, little changed in recent days and near the mark last seen during last Thanksgiving week.
“We’re still dealing with a pandemic and we still need to practice the behaviors that keep ourselves and others safe,” Cuomo said.
Fifty-eight New Yorkers died from coronavirus, including 35 in the city, as the death toll remains steady at a very high level.
New York’s numbers have started to drop in recent weeks after a long plateau. Infection rates and hospital caseloads had earlier dramatically dropped from highs hit in early January after the end-of-year holiday surge.
Public health officials say the ongoing vaccination push is keeping a lid on a feared spring surge even as more contagious variants of COVID-19 hopscotch across the globe.
More than 13 million vaccine doses have been administered in New York State, with 27% of the population fully vaccinated and another 13% receiving at least one dose.
