New York will give way to the second phase of vaccination on Monday in the worst moment of the second wave of COVID-19 | The State
New York is facing the distressing highest peak so far from the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, and at the same time it also faces another crisis due to the reduced supply of the vaccine, if the density of the state’s population is taken into account.
But the worst thing is that according to the calculations of the state health authorities at this rate they will pass 14 weeks before the goal of dosing at least the first two eligible groups can be met. And that is why this Friday the Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that next Monday the next phase of vaccination will be police officers, rescuers and adults over 75 years of age.
Precisely this Friday marked the date on which New Yorkers were presumed to begin to face the real consequences of the family reunions of the past holidays. And indeed, already the numbers show a dangerous escalation that puts COVID-19 at its bad high point since May, amid a vaccination strategy that continues to generate a struggle between the City and the state government.
Cuomo explained that it is not a surprise that during this week emergency rooms and intensive care units begin to saturate. “It was totally predictable. That is why we insist so much that for Thanksgiving, Hannukak, Christmas and New Years we have smart celebrations. We already see in the numbers, what we feared “.
Only in the Big Apple the infection rate climbed almost 10%, taking into account that it had remained controlled between July and October at an average of 1.1%.
During the summer and part of the fall in the consecutive seven-day averages, the cases did not break the threshold of 350 confirmed in coronavirus In New York City, now the rate of infected has precipitated in the first week of this 2021 to 3,960 newly infected.
The number of new infected is rising rapidly in The Bronx and Queens.
A dose of reality
The Governor is focused on the increasing occupation of hospital beds, as the indicator that could lead to drastic economic closures.
“When, according to our models, hospitals are within 21 days of having a hospitalization capacity of less than 15%, at that time drastic decisions will come. We don’t want to repeat the nightmare of spring where people called ambulances and there was no response capacity ”.
Hospitals in the five boroughs of New York City, despite the rebound, until this Friday had only the 31.59% of beds occupied.
Phase 1B begins on Monday
On the administration of vaccines and the growing demand from elected officials in the Big Apple to change the order of priority groups, Cuomo was very categorical: “No local boss can skip strategy. It does not depend on us there is a Federal Administration that sends us the supplies. They establish to whom and when they should apply ”.
However, as of next monday more than 3 million new yorkers who belong to group 1B received the green light to start enrolling in vaccination appointments.
The number of people now eligible to receive the vaccine starting next week expands to include teachers, police, firefighters, security and public transportation workers, as well as one of the most vulnerable groups: people over 75 years of age.
Cuomo recognized that older adults have lived the side “Harder and more desperate” of this health crisis, but the real drama is that if the inventory of doses received in New York continues to be “only 300,000 per week” it would take 47 weeks to immunize 70% of New Yorkers which is the standard for the plan to be really effective.
“We are building partnerships with community health networks to move the vaccine faster. We have met with unions, we will install large centers to inoculate 24 hours a day. This picture can only change if we receive other supplies. In this instant, we can only apply the drug to health workers. There is no other option ”, he concluded.
Mayor De Blasio insists
Previous hours, for the third consecutive day, in his session before the media, Mayor Bill de Blasio demanded that the federal and state authorities “Flexibility and freedom” so that authorize skipping vaccination guidelines.
“The numbers are very high. We are very concerned, especially about the appearance of the new variant of COVID-19. It is the reason why we cannot fail the most vulnerable at this critical moment. In this case I want to insist that it is an emergency start vaccinating immediately to our adults over 75 years old, “said the municipal president.
De Blasio “pushed” again to be allowed in the next few hours to immunize other vulnerable groups, taking into account that hundreds of eligible people from critical hospital personnel categorized in the group 1A, has so far refused to be inoculated.
The City Department of Health (DOHMH) calculations are that the second wave of COVID-19 is hitting the elderly very hard, which statistically means close to the 60% of deaths in the last four weeks.
“We have the logistics to vaccinate 270,000 of our elderly from the 560,000 that need to be protected throughout the city. We are losing lives unnecessarily due to the limits and the straitjacket that the vaccination protocol puts on us ”, the Mayor stressed.
According to State immunization protocols, older adults should expect all healthcare workers to get immunized to go to phase 1B in conjunction with teachers, security, rescue and employees of the transportation system.
At a slow pace
- 1 million doses It is needed to complete phase 1A which is aimed at healthcare workers.
- 3.2 million Immunizations are needed for phase 1B which includes police officers, teachers, rescuers, and all adults over 75 years of age.
- 300,000 inoculations is receiving NY a week.
- 14 weeks or approximately April 16, these first two stages would be completed, if the federal government’s vaccine inventory for NY is maintained.
- 3.2 million of people over 75 live in NY.
- 13% of those eligible of group 1A have been inoculated so far in the Big Apple, that is, 122,477 health professionals.
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