Cursed! Yet another water main break
strikes disaster-prone East Village street
BY DEAN MOSES
East Village residents experienced
deja vu all over again Wednesday
night with the second water main
break along East 7th Street in a month.
The street near 1st Avenue fi lled with
restaurants and outside dining areas was
completely fl ooded as a result of the break,
which occurred at around 8 p.m. on Dec.
30.
Some sections of the water reached up to
knee high as pedestrians wadded through
the deluge in search of dry ground. Business
owners could be seen furiously batting
at the water with brooms as it encroached
on their property while others wrapped
plastic bags around their feet in order to
keep away the moisture.
NYPD offi cers parked their vehicle
on Avenue A side of East 7th Street but
those in the area were largely left to fend
for themselves while the Fire Department
A woman cautiously wades through the flood. FILE PHOTO
inspected the vicinity for the cause of the
fl ood and electrical dangers.
“I saw people running for their lives. I
thought someone had been shot, then I saw
this tidal wave of water come running after
them,” said one 7th Street resident as he
took refuge on a nearby stoop.
The gushing water was freezing to the
touch, causing those brave enough to dip
their feet in the torrent to immediately
jump in shock, clinging to nearby poles
and railings.
Outside dining were also completely inundated
with brown water, sending debris
such as pizza boxes and store signs fl oating
into the distance. A recycling receptacle
even washed into the front of a car, preventing
the driver from pulling away.
This incident comes hot on the heels of
a laundry list of calamities that has hit—
what many locals have dubbed a “cursed
street” — including a similar water main
break on Dec. 21 and the devastating sixalarm
inferno on Dec. 5 that destroyed
the historic home of Middle Collegiate
Church.
No injuries have been reported in last
Wednesday night’s pipe break, and the
investigation is still ongoing.
Calls for new vaccine plan as
COVID-19 cases keep going up
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI AND
ALEJANDRA O’CONNELLDOMENECH
The calendar may have changed, but
the COVID-19 nightmare continues
in New York state — with another
149 deaths and 12,666 more positive cases
reported on Jan. 4.
Amid the rising rates, one New York City
lawmaker on Saturday appealed for a plan
to more quickly vaccinate all New Yorkers
against the deadly illness.
Manhattan City Councilman Mark
Levine took to Twitter to call for action to
expedite the vaccination process, comparing
the situation to the smallpox outbreak
of 1947.
“In April 1947, New York City faced a
terrifying smallpox outbreak. 23 days later
the City had vaccinated 6 million people,”
Levine tweeted to start a lengthy thread
on the topic.
During the smallpox outbreak nearly 73
years ago, the city mobilized an army of
thousands of health care professionals and
volunteers to distribute vaccines at clinics,
public schools, police precincts, fi re stations
and other public venues.
“NYC should set up 100s of points of distribution
(PODs) for COVID-19 vaccination
in school gymnasiums, community centers,
houses of worship, and public housing
complexes,” Levine wrote. “There will be
many roles in the PODs which don’t require
specialized medical training. (like signing
people in, or managing lines). Why not hire
young people or New Yorkers out of work
for these jobs? It could serve as a launching
pad into the world of public health careers.”
The councilman said a rapid COVID-19
vaccination program is more than feasible
for New York City, noting that the city’s
Health Department has “on the shelf” a
plan to distribute the anthrax vaccine to
all New Yorkers within 72 hours in the
event of a bioterror attack. That plan, he
noted, relies upon thousands of city workers
mobilized for the process.
On Jan. 5, Mayor Bill de Blasio said
the city is preparing to set up fi ve mass
vaccination centers across — one in each
of the fi ve boroughs —pending state approval
to ramp up vaccination efforts.
Offi cials have spaces lined up for three
boroughs –the Bathgate Industrial Park
in the Bronx, Brooklyn Army Terminal
Annex Building and in La Marqueta in
Manhattan–with Queens and Staten Island
sites still being determined.
City health offi cials said Monday the
city would draw from the Medical Reserve
Corp if need be in order to help staff forthcoming
vaccination centers.
Offi cials plan to keep the potential sites
open 24 hours a day seven days a week,
de Blasio said, in order to administer a
combined 100,000 doses of FDA-approved
COVID-19 vaccines a week to New Yorkers
in an appropriate vaccination group. At the
moment, New York state is still in phase 1a
of its vaccine distribution plan meaning only
nursing home residents, staff, and health care
workers with a “high risk” of contracting the
virus are receiving the vaccine.
Just over 118,300 New York City
residents have received their fi rst dose of
a COVID-19 vaccine since vaccine shipments
arrived in the city early last month
and 756 have received their second shot,
according to the city’s COVID-19 vaccine
tracker. About 480,500 vaccine doses have
been relieved in the city and 585,850 are
currently reserved for the city.
The mass vaccination centers are part of
the mayor’s plan to take on a “herculean”
effort of administering one million doses
of COVID-19 vaccines to New York City
residents by the end of this month.
PHOTO BY REUTERS/CARLO ALLEGRI
A nurse prepares a syringe with the COVID-19 Moderna vaccine for a worker
of the New York City Fire Department Bureau of Emergency Medical Services,
amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Manhattan on Dec. 23, 2020.
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