26 THE QUEENS COURIER • HEALTH • JULY 15, 2021 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
health
City sets new targets for COVID-19 vaccines as case rates climb
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
editorial@qns.com
@QNS
City health offi cials are setting their
sights on younger New Yorkers for
COVID-19 vaccines, as infection rates
have ticked up in recent weeks and
the highly contagious Delta variant has
become one of the dominant strains in
the fi ve boroughs.
“Th e spread of the Delta variant
means that it is perhaps the most dangerous
Mayor keeping school mask requirement in place
BY ALEJANDRA O’CONNELLDOMENECH
adomenech@schnepsmedia.com
@AODNewz
New York City doesn’t have plans to
change its current mask-wearing policy
in schools and adhere to recently updated
guidelines from the Centers of Disease
Control and Prevention, Mayor Bill de
Blasio said.
In a major policy shift , the CDC called
for the full reopening of schools across the
country even if doing so meant dropping
its three-foot social distancing requirement
and recommended only unvaccinated
adults and children wear masks while
inside school buildings.
Th e New York State Department of
Health is currently reviewing the amended
guidelines, and their decision on whether
to relax mask-wearing requirements in
schools could impact whether the DOE
adopts the new CDC recommendations.
But for now, New York City public school
families should expect that teachers, staff
and students regardless of vaccination status
will need to face coverings in classrooms
this fall, according to de Blasio.
“Th ere will be a lot of communication
before school and once it begins. For now,
assume we are wearing masks,” de Blasio
told reporters during a morning press
conference. “But that could change as we
get closer … we will be driven by the data
and see what the science has to say.”
Th e CDC guideline changes come amid
a national push to boost slowing vaccination
rates across the country. De Blasio
started off his Monday press conference
touting New York City’s vaccination rate
stating that 4.4 million city residents are
now fully vaccinated against the virus.
According tothe CDC, about 4.9 million
New York City residents are fully vaccinated
against the virus and 5.4 million
people, or about 64 percent of the city’s
population, have received at least one
dose of the vaccine, which falls just a little
below the nation’s overall rate.
De Blasio told reporters Monday the
city planned to keep its current maskwearing
policy in place due to its effi cacy
in mitigating the spread of the virus in
school communities.
“By the end of the school year, positivity
in the schools was almost non-existent …
so we are going to keep a lot of those same
pieces in place,” de Blasio said.
time to be unvaccinated,” said
Department of Health Commissioner
Dr. Dave Chokshi during Mayor Bill de
Blasio’s daily press briefi ng on Monday,
July 12. “You’ll see an even more concerted
push around ensuring that younger
people get vaccinated over the course
of the summer.”
COVID-19 positivity rates have
increased since late June, with the latest
Health Department data showing a 1.2
percent percent positivity rate and 328
new cases citywide across a seven-day
average as of July 10, up from 0.59 percent
and 200 cases on June 27.
Luckily, hospitalization rates remain
fairly low at a rate of 0.28 per 100,000
across a seven-day average and 78 people
admitted to hospitals with suspected
COVID-19 as of July
10. Offi cials attribute the low
hospitalization rate to vaccinations.
But some pockets of the city
remain stubbornly higher
in their case rates and lower
in vaccinations, according to
Chokshi.
“We’re seeing, for example, in
Staten Island the percent positivity and
the case numbers have increased in recent
days and weeks, and that’s because
we have unvaccinated individuals,
particularly younger people,
who remain unvaccinated,”
said the city’s doctor.
On parts of the Rock,
COVID-19 positivity ratesranged
from 3-4 percent in
some neighborhoods where
vaccination rates where largely
below 50 percent.
Th e city will focus its outreach on
mobile vaccine buses, working with
community groups, and off ering at-home
vaccinations to anyone to curb low inoculation
rates, with a specifi c focus on young
people, according to de Blasio.
“We’re going to have a particular opportunity
around younger folks in the lead up
to school. I think a lot of parents are going
to want to get their young people vaccinated,”
Hizzoner said.
Th e Delta variant, which emerged in
India late last year and is more transmissible
than previous forms of the disease,
hasmade up more than a quarter, or 26
percent, of all cases in the city over the
past four weeks, the same amount as the
B.1.1.7 variant fi rst detected in the United
Kingdom.
Th e available vaccines — either the oneand
done Johnson & Johnson shot or the
two-dose Pfi zer or Moderna serums —
are eff ective against the Delta variantof
COVID-19 and other forms of the virus.
Vaccinated people can still contract
COVID-19, but the antibodies built up in
their immune systems from the shot are
highly eff ective at preventing serious, lifethreatening
illness.
Photo by Ed Reed/Mayor’s
Offi ce
NYC Health
Commissioner
Dr. Dave
Chokshi at an
April press
conference.
Photo courtesy of Brooklyn Friends School
Students at the Brooklyn Friends School not only have to wear masks at all times, but their desks are also equipped with plexiglass guards to ensure
another level of safety during the pandemic.
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