40 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • AUGUST 2021
PRESS HEALTH
COVID-19 ROUNDUP
LATEST PANDEMIC HEADLINES
VAX PUSH AMID RISE IN
CASES
Long Island’s positive Covid-19 cases
have been steadily rising once more
as vaccination rates slow and the Delta
variant of the virus spreads.
The Long Island region, which includes
Nassau and Suffolk counties combined,
has the second-highest Covid-19 positivity
rate of all regions in the state on a
seven-day average at 2.27 percent as of
July 26, according to the latest data from
New York State.
“New York is fighting Covid-19 across
the state and more shots are going in
arms every single day, but we need to
kick our vaccination efforts into overdrive
if we’re going to beat this virus for
good,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. “That’s
why we’re reinforcing our efforts on
underserved communities with lower
vaccination rates as variants spread in
our state.”
The state will target specific zip codes
— 117 statewide, to be exact — that have
above-average new positive Covid-19
cases per capita and below-average
vaccination rates. Eighteen percent
of those zip codes are located on Long
Island, a total of 21 zip codes, including
in Elmont, Baldwin, Amityville, Wyandanch,
Sayville, Melville, Yaphank,
Center Moriches, and Riverhead.
-BB
3 LI MASS VAXX SITES
CLOSE
New York State closed three of its mass
vaccination sites on Long Island in July.
The Covid-19 vaccination site at Suffolk
County Community College’s Brentwood
campus ceased operations on
July 9. The site at Jones Beach State Park,
one of the first mass vaccination sites
to open on Long Island in mid-January,
closed on July 19. And the site at Stony
Brook University’s Southampton campus
shuttered on July 26.
Going forward, the governor’s office
says that state officials are evaluating all
mass vaccine sites to determine which
can be cut based on local resources.
-BB
DELTA VARIANT BEHIND
MORE THAN 80% OF U.S.
CASES
The Delta variant of the coronavirus is
the cause of more than 80 percent of new
U.S. Covid-19 cases, but the authorized
vaccines remain more than 90 percent
effective in preventing hospitalizations
and deaths, said top U.S. infectious disease
expert Dr. Anthony Fauci during a
U.S. Senate hearing on July 21.
The more contagious Delta variant was
first found in India earlier this year. It
has since become the dominant version
of the virus in the United States and many
other countries. It has been detected
in more than 90 nations worldwide.
States should continue to hold onto their
inventories of unused vaccines as manufacturers
are working to determine the
shelf life of their shots, Janet Woodcock,
the acting director of the U.S. Food and
Drug Administration, said during the
hearing. Large quantities of unused U.S.
vaccine supplies are facing expiration
in the coming weeks if the shelf life is
not extended.
-Reuters
LI NURSE LEADS
HOMETOWN HEROES
PARADE
A Long Island nurse who was the first
person in the United States to receive
an approved Covid-19 vaccine was the
grand marshal of the Hometown Heroes
parade honoring the pandemic’s essential
workers in Manhattan on July 9.
Sandra Lindsay, of Port Washington,
the director of patient care services
for critical care at Northwell Health’s
Long Island Jewish Medical Center, had
previously been honored at a White
House ceremony by President Joseph R.
Biden with the United States Citizenship
and Immigration Services Outstanding
Americans by Choice initiative.
“It is truly an honor and privilege to serve
as the grand marshal in the Hometown
Heroes ticker-tape parade and represent
all health care and essential workers
whose heroic efforts saved lives during
the Covid-19 pandemic,” Lindsay said.
She became the first person in the United
States to receive the Covid-19 vaccine
on Dec. 14, 2020.
-Staff with Dean Moses via amNewYork
CDC UPDATES SCHOOL
GUIDANCE
The Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention on July 9 updated its guidance
to help reopen U.S. schools in the
fall, including recommending masking
indoors for everyone who is not fully
vaccinated as well as 3 feet of distance
within classrooms.
The agency said school administrators
may opt to require indoor mask
use even for students and educators
who are vaccinated, depending on the
needs of the community. Reasons would
include schools with children under age
12, who are not currently authorized to
receive Covid-19 vaccines, or high rates
of Covid-19 transmission in the region.
The National Education Association,
the largest U.S. teachers union, said the
updated guidance offers a roadmap for
students to return to school.
“Everyone who is eligible to be vaccinated
should get their Covid-19 vaccination…
Schools should be consistently and rigorously
employing all the recommended
mitigation strategies,” NEA President
Becky Pringle said in a statement.
-Reuters
Nurse Sandra Lindsay, of Port Washington, was the grand marshal of the Hometown Heroes Parade in New York City
on July 9. (Photo by Bruce Adler)
/LONGISLANDPRESS.COM
