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Jan. 29-Feb. 4, 2021
Queens leaders demand more COVID-19 vaccine, testing
sites be brought to South Ozone Park, Richmond Hill
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED AND
GABRIELE HOLTERMANN
Borough President Donovan
Richards, elected officials
and community leaders
in Richmond Hill gathered
outside of the Lefferts Boulevard
A train station at Liberty
Avenue on Thursday, Jan. 21,
to raise awareness about the
prevalence of COVID-19, as
well as testing and vaccine
disparities.
Richmond Hill and South
Ozone Park are two of Queens’
neighborhoods that have been
hit hardest by COVID-19,
where residents are experiencing
food insecurity and job
losses amid rising cases of the
virus, yet again.
While New York City’s
overall positivity rate is 8.53
percent, according to the
city’s Department of Health,
the positivity rate in ZIP code
11419 is 16.2 percent.
“Put that in perspective,
Richmond Hill/South Ozone
Park’s positivity rate is almost
twice that of the rest of
Queens,” Richards said. “We
also have to take personal
responsibility as well. That
means everybody needs to
adhere to the rules and regulations
we have spoken about
time and time again — wearing
your facial mask when
you’re out, not congregating
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards and local elected officials address the COVID-19 testing
and vaccine disparity in Queens. Photo by Gabriele Holtermann
in places, in hookah bars and
restaurants. We cannot have
that.”
Richards was joined by
Council members Adrienne
Adams, Eric Ulrich, as well
as Assembly members Jenifer
Rajkumar, Khaleel Anderson,
and David Weprin to distribute
personal protective equipment
(PPE) to residents and
remind them to observe social
distancing.
Although a new state vaccination
site had opened at the
Aqueduct Race Track, located
at 110-00 Rockaway Blvd., on
Jan. 11, Richards urged that
more needs to be done for the
people of Queens, especially
those in Richmond Hill and
South Ozone Park.
Local elected officials representing
the districts called
out inequities of service in
communities of color, including
Richmond Hill. They’re
also demanding Mayor Bill de
Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo
to open local vaccination
and testing sites for residents’
convenience.
“We had to fight to get tests
in March, April and May.
We had to fight to get testing
sites,” Adams said. “Today,
we are still fighting. We are
still seeing people dying in
this community because of
COVID-19, and there is a vaccine.”
Ulrich, Adams’ City Council
colleague, referenced the
high number of hospitalizations
and deaths that occurred
in Richmond Hill and Ozone
Park during the height of the
pandemic.
Ulrich criticized the mayor
and governor for playing the
blame game, saying politics
should be put aside amid the
crisis. According to Ulrich,
residents cannot travel to the
Javits Center, which would
take two hours on public
transportation.
Community leaders also
called out the difficulty of the
lack of vaccine registration
process, especially for seniors
and those who don’t have access
to the internet.
Community Board 10 Chair
Betty Bratton said that her office
has helped people to register
for vaccinations.
“We have to find a way to
improve the system that they
use for people to register for
the vaccine — 75, 85 and even
90-year-old people should not
have to try to navigate a website
or hanging on the phone
for hours. We have to fix it,”
Bratton said.
Richards said they are
coming up with a plan to help
seniors and that it was important
that community-based
organizations had a part in it
as well.
Read more on QNS.com.
Vol. 9, No. 5 32 total pages
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