This is our daily update of the latest COVID-19 news for Sunday, January 31, 2021. Previous daily updates can be found here, and up-to-date stats are here.
New York City is in Phase 4 of reopening now, including zoos, botanical gardens, museums, and gyms. Citing rising hospital admissions, Governor Andrew Cuomo suspended indoor dining in NYC starting December 14, but it is scheduled to return on Valentine’s Day with limited capacity. After to be shut down for several weeks, public schools in NYC partially reopened on December 7 for 3K-5th grade students, with students with special needs returning on December 10. Certain parts of Staten Island remain under a zoned closure.
Get answers to your questions can have with our “Ask An Epidemiologist” series, or read more about it NYC COVID-19 testing options with our explanation. Here are some local and national hotlines for more information: NYC: 311; NY State Hotline: 888-364-3065; NJ State Hotline: 800-222-1222.
Here’s the latest:
4:41 PM: A case of the COVID-19 variant from South Africa was found in the Baltimore area of Maryland – another sign that several strains of the virus are spreading across the US as the nation simultaneously tries to stop the pandemic with vaccines.
Maryland Governor Larry Hogan said Saturday that a Maryland resident became ill with the new variant, likely through “community transmission.” The man had not traveled outside of the US
“State health officials are closely monitoring the B.1.351 variant of SARS-CoV-2 in the state,” Hogan said in a statement released Saturday. “We strongly encourage Marylanders to use extra caution to limit the additional risk of transmission associated with this variant.”
The Maryland case is the third in the country, with two others followed in South Carolina. Maryland has also tracked seven cases of the British variant known as B.1.1.7.
New York state has become a hot spot for the UK variant, with 44 cases of it reported in the state, but no variants from Brazil and South Africa have been found. Genome sequencing to track variants is well below the total number of COVID-19 cases confirmed each week in New York. The Wall Street Journal reports that the city-contracted Pandemic Response Lab will begin sequencing 2,000 samples of coronavirus per week in mid-February.
Dr. Howard Zucker, the New York health commissioner, said the state is currently sequencing about 700 copies per week. Since December 23, about 3,000 units have been tested.
“I don’t want to be Governor Downer, but I just want to be frank and forthright with the people of the state,” Cuomo said in a press call on Sunday. “Today’s news is very good, but keep an eye on these UK variants and the other variants – and they all suggest more zeal.”
A vaccination site in Brooklyn was almost deserted on Saturday
9:53 am: A COVID-19 vaccine site at a Coney Island high school was severely underused Saturday, according to a video shared by Councilman Mark Treyger.
The video shows that Lincoln High School is staffed with workers waiting to check people in and administer the vaccine, with only one person receiving an injection.
“This is ridiculous,” said the person who filmed the video.
Lincoln HS this morning at Coney Island. Mostly staff and hardly anyone who gets vaccinated. Ironically, the city’s website says there are no appointments available to my constituents today, but no one is there and they are on the vaccine stockpile. This is not acceptable @notomtelachen ! pic.twitter.com/6jXOnyndSs
– Mark Treyger (@ MarkTreyger718) January 30, 2021
Treyger wrote, “This is unacceptable.”
“It is clear that we have local logistics issues that are still unresolved,” said Carlina Rivera, East Village Councilor added.
Spokesperson for the Ministry of Health Patrick Gallahue said in a tweet that the city’s DOH hubs were open to rescheduled appointments to be postponed after thousands were canceled due to a lack of supplies.
“Supply remains limited and we will be using every last dose in Lincoln all weekend,” Gallahue wrote. When asked for more information, he reiterated that “every last dose” will be used this weekend.
According to the NY Post, doses were available beyond just the scheduled appointments. After Treyger tweeted the video, older New Yorkers lined up Saturday afternoon to see if they could be vaccinated without an appointment and eventually get vaccinated after an employee confirmed adequate doses, the Post reports.
Gallahue said a standby list is only used when there are available doses or appointments. Staff can quickly contact eligible New Yorkers to use the doses, he said.
The near-empty site was a visual reminder of the messy distribution of vaccines to date, about seven weeks after the rollout. Vaccine seekers are faced with a patchwork of online appointment scheduling systems, and sometimes have to go through the process a second time to make their second appointment. Several ad hoc efforts have surfaced to help eligible New Yorkers find vaccination appointments when the official systems aren’t working.
Inconsistent week-to-week delivery has made planning difficult. On a particularly chaotic night earlier this month, a swarm of people arrived at the Brooklyn Army Terminal after reports of leftover doses quickly spread on social media. The site later had to close because the doses had run out.
According to the city’s vaccine tracker, there are about 53,000 doses for the first injection available in NYC, and an additional 313,000 reserved for people’s second doses, as of Sunday morning. NYC has administered a total of 800,508 doses since December 14, about 200,000 less than Mayor Bill de Blasio’s goal of 1 million doses.