4 THE QUEENS COURIER • FEBRUARY 11, 2021 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Calls for vaccination sites in NE Queens continue
BY JENNA BAGCAL
jbagcal@qns.com
@jenna_bagcal
Nearly a month aft er lawmakers
authored a letter demanding COVID-
19 vaccination sites in northeast Queens,
other members of the community are
continuing to push for sites, citing the
needs of the area’s larger-than-average
senior population.
Th e letter, which was sent to Mayor Bill
de Blasio on Jan. 12, complained that the
“vaccination desert” did not have any sites
“east of Union Street, Flushing or north of
82nd Road in Jamaica.” Despite persistent
community demands, City Council candidates
City’s middle schools to resume in-person learning Feb. 25
BY BEN VERDE
editorial@qns.com
@QNS
New York City public middle schools
will reopen this month for in-person
learning aft er being closed since mid-
November due to the COVID-19 pandemic,
Mayor Bill de Blasio announced
Monday morning, Feb. 8..
Middle schools have the go-ahead to
reopen on Th ursday, Feb. 25, according
to City Hall.
“Our educators have done an incredible
job supporting students remotely
but, as we’ve said from the beginning,
nothing can replace in-person learning
and the support our students receive
in person,” Schools Chancellor Richard
Carranza said during de Blasio’s morning
press briefi ng. “We’re so thrilled to
be able to provide that.”
As part of the reopening plan, middle
school teachers in the Department
of Education system returning to work
in person will be given priority for the
coronavirus vaccine at city-run hubs
between Feb. 12 and Feb. 21 and during
the mid-winter recess.
Th e Department of Education will
conduct weekly testing throughout the
middle school system and add additional
staff to its situation room.
As it stands, two confi rmed cases in
any public school cause the school to
shut down temporarily.
City Hall’s announcement comes as
concerns rise about the prevalence of
new, more contagious variants of the
coronavirus, the presence of which has
been confi rmed in New York.
City offi cials insisted that the school
systems’ ardent safety precautions would
prevent the spread of the variants in
school buildings, which caused school
buildings to shutter throughout Europe.
“Th ere were no European countries
adopting the same rigorous approach
that we have adopted here,” said Dr.
Jay Varma, a public health advisor with
the mayor’s offi ce. “Th at means universal
masking regardless of age, universal
maintaining of physical distance, aggressive
symptom screening, all the ventilation
improvements.”
Leaders of the United Federation of
Teachers, the union that represents public
school educators, said they will monitor
the system to ensure that widespread
testing, use of personal protective
equipment and physical distancing
are adhered to.
Union offi cials repeated the City Hall
talking point that public schools are the
safest place to be throughout the city.
“Th ese strict standards, and the
requirement that buildings close temporarily
when virus cases are detected,
have made our schools the safest places
to be in our communities,” said UFT
President Michael Mulgrew. “Th ey will
continue to be the strongest protections
for the health and safety of students and
staff .”
in District 23 say that northeast
Queens still lacks accessible sites a week
into February.
“District 23 has a larger senior community
than the rest of New York City
and the current diffi culty in seniors’ ability
to be vaccinated is simply not acceptable,”
said City Council candidate Debra
Markell. “Eastern Queens doesn’t even
have a rapid testing center, let alone a
coordinated, convenient vaccine facility.
It is crucial this is addressed.”
According to the city’s vaccine fi nder,
the closest locations to get inoculated are
in Flushing, forcing seniors to travel out
of their neighborhoods like Bay Terrace,
Bayside, Little Neck and Douglaston.
Some leaders in the community have
come up with workarounds for this
issue, including free senior transportation
to vaccination appointments outside
of northeast Queens. But other glaring
issues remain, including registration diffi
culties for individuals who may be less
tech savvy.
“Th is dependence on making an
appointment online where seniors are not
tech-savvy, among the very community is
most in need of the vaccine, is completely
unfair and is, in my opinion, simply discriminatory,”
Markell said.
Linda Lee, another District 23 candidate
and an Oakland Gardens resident,
said that the state is “exploring” the possibility
of using existing centers like the
Korean Community Services building in
Bayside, as a viable vaccination site.
And on Tuesday, Feb. 9, Governor
Cuomo’s offi ce announced that, beginning
Th ursday, Feb. 11, Korean Community
Services in Bayside will become a pop-up
vaccination site. NYCHA Shelton Houses
in Jamaica and the Sikh Cultural Society
in South Richmond, along with Korean
Community Services, will provide eligible
Queens residents with the COVID-
19 vaccines.
At a Feb. 8 press conference in front
of the Commonpoint Queens Sam Field
Center, northeast Queens elected offi -
cials led by Assembly members Nily Rozic
and Ed Braunstein and Councilmen Paul
Vallone and Peter Koo, demanded that the
city come up with a permanent vaccine
location for area residents.
“Once again, the city has forgotten
about northeast Queens,” said Rozic. “We
understand the vaccine shortage has created
logistical hurdles, but we cannot leave
any communities behind when supply is
eventually replenished and distributed.
Th e city should haveidentifi ed appropriate
locations that could serve as vaccination
sites months ago so ourcommunities
are not overlooked. Th e expectation that
seniors must travel long distances for thechance
of immunization is unacceptable.”
Community Board 11 Chair Michael
Budabin said that they made eff orts to contact
NYC COVID-19 Vaccine Command
and said that “they have been responsive
and understanding of our situation.”
“We are aware that it is hard to open new
vaccination sites without a reliable infl ux
of doses from the Federalgovernment.
However, it is the strong belief of our
Health and Human Services Committee
thatlogistical planning should be implemented
now to ensure a vaccination site
is fully prepared to open in Community
Board 11, Queens immediately upon the
availability of adequate and consistent
delivery of vaccine doses. We stand willing
and able to volunteer to help fi nd sites that
are compliant with the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA) and large enough
to serveour neighborhoods,” Budabin said.
Th e same day, the mayor’s offi ce
announced that Citi Field would open
as a mass COVID-19 vaccine site on
Wednesday, Feb. 10.
REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs
Courtesy of Rozic’s offi ce
Northeast Queens lawmakers held a press conference at the Commonpoint Queens Sam Field Center in Little Neck demanding the city establish COVID-19
vaccination sites for the area.
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