This story was reported by Robert Brodsky, Bart Jones, David Olson, David Reich-Hale and Jean-Paul Salamanca. It was written by Jones.
Several temporary vaccination sites appeared on Long Island on Friday to reach the elderly in the East End and members of the region’s growing Indian community, among other things as part of a greater effort by local and state governments. to improve access to COVID-19 fires.
In Melville, 237 people were vaccinated at the BAPS Hindu temple. The medical staff at Stony Brook University Hospital administered the photos.
Snehal Shah of Nesconset was one of the recipients.
“I feel protected,” he said after receiving his first two-shot vaccine. “I feel that I will not be one of those who will spread the germs around, the disease around me, so I feel that I am doing my civic duty.”
He said he was particularly relieved because his 84-year-old mother lived with him.
Efforts continued as Long Island marked a year since the first coronavirus case was identified in the region, the beginning of a health crisis that claimed 6,057 lives in Nassau and Suffolk combined, according to state figures updated Friday.
Nassau County Executive Laura Curran lamented the loss, saying the county was working to return to normal.
“On this one-year anniversary of the first confirmed COVID-19 case in Nassau County, we remember the 2,935 precious lives lost and look forward to a future with renewed hope,” Curran said in a statement.
She said Nassau “continues to be the road” among large counties in the states “in vaccinating residents, which is a very positive signal for our recovery.”
To date, she said more than 20% of residents have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine, which is given in two doses in Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna formulations and as a single dose with the latest Johnson & Johnson.
“Although we have seen a major decline in cases and hospitalizations since the peak of our winter, we have not yet come out of the forest,” Curran added.
At Melville, Girish Patel, a spokesman for the temple, the largest Hindu shrine on Long Island, said it was the first of 106 BAPS temples in the United States to run a vaccination clinic.
He said many members of the Hindu community on Long Island fear being shot because of health problems or need translators to help fill out forms or register on websites. BAPS volunteers worked with them, including convincing them that the vaccine was good for them and others.
“Some of them are really scared to get the vaccine,” Patel said. “Now they’re so happy they got the vaccine.”
Patel said the temple now has a waiting list of another 150 people who want to get vaccinated and hopes the state will authorize a second clinic.
Images for seniors and teachers
In Riverhead, the local center for the elderly began vaccinating the elderly over the age of 65 on Friday morning, said supervisor Yvette Aguiar.
Vaccinations will take place over four days, and 500 seniors have signed up. About 250 local seniors are expected to be vaccinated each day, and a total of 1,000 seniors will receive the Moderna vaccine by the end of Tuesday, Aguiar said.
“Riverhead has one of the largest elderly populations, and after pleading to bring vaccines to the center for the elderly, the state heard our call and I thank the state for hearing our voices,” Aguiar said.
Meanwhile, Nassau County and Mount Sinai in southern Nassau have launched a pilot program to vaccinate teachers and school staff in the Island Park, Long Beach, Oceanside and Rockville Center school districts.
The pilot teacher immunization program is scheduled to vaccinate 300 teachers at the hospital’s vaccination center in Rockville Center on Friday.
“We know that bringing students and teachers back to full school training in person is essential, and this pilot program is essential to help normalize our schools,” said Dr. Adhi Sharma, chief medical officer at Mount Sinai South Nassau. .
Kevin Kennedy, a professor of social studies at South Side High School in Rockville Center, said he tried unsuccessfully for weeks to secure a vaccination meeting at state-run locations.
“I’m relieved and pretty happy,” Kennedy said Friday. – It’s been a long time.
Positivity levels in COVID-19 testing continued to decline. The national seven-day average was 3.16%, with a 4.21% level on Long Island.
The number of new confirmed cases from Thursday’s test results was 789 in Nassau County, 750 in Suffolk County and 4,856 in New York.
Nationwide, a total of 94 people died on Thursday from coronavirus-related causes.
A LI woman sues to visit her husband in the nursing home
A lawsuit in federal court on Thursday calls for the Long Island state veterans’ home in Stony Brook to be willing to allow a woman to visit her 60-year-old husband.
Mary Mauro wants to visit her husband, Mario Mauro, who has been in the nursing home since January 9, 2020, according to the lawsuit, which was filed by Holtsville lawyer Joseph Mauro. He did not return calls for comments. It is not clear what his relationship is with Mary and Mario Mauro.
Members of Mario Mauro’s immediate family attended his feeding before the visit was banned in March, and since then his weight has dropped from £ 142 to £ 110, the lawsuit says.
The visit ban “prevented Ms Mauro from helping her husband’s food and led Mr Mauro to lose more than £ 30, which is now life-threatening,” the lawsuit said.
The state has strict rules on visits to nursing homes, but the lawsuit says a Feb. 22 health department directive that allows “compassionate care visits” for some residents who have lost weight and may need support from the loved ones covers the situation Mauros.
“There is simply no risk of the applicant Mary Mauro entering the unit to care for her husband”, as both are vaccinated against COVID-19, Mary Mauro would wear a mask and would not interact with anyone else in the unit and her husband his room never leaves.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages in addition to an order that prevents the home from being banned from visiting.
Stony Brook Medicine said it does not comment on pending litigation. Cuomo councilor Richard Azzopardi said the governor’s office did not comment on the disputes.
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