Appointments and frustration
on vaccine front in SoHo, Village
BY TEQUILA MINSKY
It’s the uncertainty of when and where a
vaccine will be available that is incredibly
anxiety producing. The anecdotal
testimonies are vast.
Soho resident Jeffery Rowland, over 65,
wrote on his FB page: The news keeps telling
me to get a COVID19 vaccine shot …
but hours and hours of time spent trying
has yielded no appointment yet. Much more
diffi cult than I hoped.”
Lee McClure also has had no luck securing
an appointment from the government
designated website. This lower Manhattan
resident has skeptically spotted dozens of
people who, in spite of the “By Appointment
Only” sign, waited in line at the
Worth Street mega vaccine site hoping a
no-show will open up a spot. “It’s beyond
frustrating.”
Countless seniors trying to score a vaccine
appointment share these experiences.
Mayor DeBlasio responded to call-ins on
WNYC’s weekly Ask the Mayor segment
with Brian Lehrer last Friday, offering
numerous apologies for poor service on
the website (wait-time and site crashing),
the need to improve service and promises
to make the website more user friendly. The
mayor repeated an oft-heard reality; there
just isn’t enough vaccine supply.
The Cit y’s appointment
PHOTO BY TEQUILA MINSKY
Seventy folding chairs are set up to hold vaccine recipients while they wait 15
minutes to see if they have a reaction.
New York City middle schools to resume
in-person learning Feb. 25, de Blasio says
BY BEN VERDE
New York City public
middle schools will
reopen this month for
in-person learning after being
closed since mid-November due
to the COVID-19 pandemic,
Mayor Bill de Blasio announced
Monday morning.
Middle schools have the goahead
to reopen on Thursday,
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.”
web site is vac ci ne fi nder.nyc.gov or call
877-VAX-4NYC.
Furthermore, the amount of vaccine
allocations varies week to week.
When a neighborhood pharmacy like
Bigelow uses its cache, it can’t schedule
until it knows how much and when supply
is coming — thus, a waiting list.
According to the COVID-19 Tracker
Site, New York State received 320,525 fi rst
doses last week and 268,800 second doses.
In eight weeks, the number of cumulative
doses received is 2,808,823.
Students at public middle schools in New York City will be able
to return to in-person learning on Feb. 25, Mayor Bill de Blasio
announced on Feb. 8, 2021.
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
Scoring an appointment takes perseverance
and LUCK. Retired nurse, Desiree
Perez Rodriguez visited appointment
websites six times before she found an 11
pm opening last Sunday night at the Worth
Street site for her husband. “They were very
effi cient, “ she said. Southbridge resident
Carl Feinman got an available appointment
at a Baptist Church in Brooklyn after many
website visits. Keep trying, and sometimes
there are cancellations.
Friends passing along information
word-of-mouth about lesser-known sites
PHOTO BY REUTERS/BRENDAN MCDERMID
vaccine at city-run hubs between
Feb. 12 and Feb. 21 and during
the mid-winter recess.
The Department of Education
will conduct weekly testing
with openings is how Kips Bay resident
Marilyn Stern got her jab in Bushwick or
Penn South resident Meryl Meisler scheduled
an appointment at a nearby Rite Aid.
Greenwich House also recently sent out an
email to members with vaccination sites
tips including Bellvue, a CVS site link, and
for vets registered at— the V.A. Hospital.
It’s still so haphazard; it’s a crapshoot.
And, to add to the confusion, there is more
than one system.
A local blog posted a volunteer-generated
list of some vaccine sites: nycvaccinelist.
com
Meanwhile, Alex Hellinger, Executive
Director of Lenox Health Greenwich Village
says, “We’re ready to go!” speaking of
the transformed fi fth fl oor in the 7th Ave.
Village health facility waiting for vaccine
allocation.
Light fl ows into the portal windows
of this airy renovated 10,000-foot space,
one of the largest vaccine sites in lower
Manhattan.
Nurses at twenty-two nursing stations
will administer the vaccines— about six
per hour at each. An observation area holds
70-distanced folding chairs where vaccine
recipients will wait 15 minutes to see if
there is any reaction.
Prepared to vaccinate 10 hours a day, on
weekdays to start and open on weekends,
“We’ll ramp up as needed,” Hellinger explains.
In the beginning, Hellinger estimates
they could handle about 88 vaccine-seekers
per hour, almost 1,000 a day. Hours are
dependent on vaccine allotment.
Ready to start, it’s just waiting for the
vaccine.
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.
“There 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. “That 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.
“These 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. “They will
continue to be the strongest protections
for the health and safety
of students and staff.”
Schneps Media February 11, 2021 3
/nder.nyc.gov