At last, NYC senior
centers reopening
later this month
Seniors eat lunch at the Chinese-American Planning Council’s Open Door
Senior Center, in Manhattan’s Chinatown, where attendance has dropped
since the coronavirus outbreak.
BY ALEJANDRA O'CONNELLDOMENECH
With New York City reaching
a record low number of new
COVID-19 cases, senior centers
are fi nally coming back, Mayor Bill de
Blasio announced on June 1.
Older New Yorkers can resume outdoor
activities at senior centers immediately and
can begin taking part in indoor activities in
two weeks on June 14.
On June 1, offi cials reported the city’s
overall COVID-19 positivity rate had fallen
to the lowest it has been since the pandemic
began in March 2020, at 0.83%.
The mayor attributed the low positivity
rate to New Yorkers’ commitment to abide
by COVID-19 health and safety guidelines
such as maintaining social distance and
wearing masks as well the vaccine. So far,
8,289,469 doses of the vaccine have been
administered across the fi ve boroughs.
PHOTO : GABRIEL SANDOVAL/THE CITY
“We’ll be careful, we’ll be safe,” de
Blasio told New Yorkers listening to his
almost daily pandemic press conference.
“We are going to make sure there’s smart
distancing to keep our senior centers safe
but the time is now.”
Seniors, and particularly older people
of color, have borne the brunt of the COVID
19 pandemic and has been shown to
especially deadly to adults 60 years or older
with underlying health conditions.
Chinatown City Council Member
Margaret Chin, chair for the Council’s
Committee on Aging, spoke to how excited
some seniors are at the idea of senior
centers reopening during the mayor press
conference.
“Every time I run into them or they call
my offi ce they say ‘when are we going to
open our center I want to see my friends …
I want to do the exercise program, the art
program, the cooking program,” Chin said.
“They are really looking forward to this.”
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