BOSTON (AP) – Vaccination sites against the coronavirus in the Northeast increased again on Tuesday after a two-day snowstorm that also closed public transportation, schools and canceled flights.
Some officials said that since vaccine supplies were meager at first, they didn’t expect to have any major problems getting caught up in distribution after a day or two of canceled appointments.
In the morning, snow tires still moved through parts of Maine and Pennsylvania, but the worst was over, reaching more than 30 inches (76 centimeters) in parts of New Jersey and just inches in Boston.
Lara Pagano, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in College Park, Maryland, noted that while several areas in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean have seen measurable snowfall for a few consecutive days, it hasn’t shattered such records.
For example, she said that the most consecutive days of recorded snowfall are four for Washington, while the figure is five for New York City and six for Philadelphia.
“While this storm has been a long-lasting event, it’s not a record in that sense, but of course it’s quite high there,” she said.
The vast, unwieldy storm had already surrounded the eastern United States on Monday. More than 17 inches (43 centimeters) of snow fell on Manhattan’s Central Park, and a whopping 30 inches (76 centimeters) was reported in northern New Jersey.
While schoolchildren in New York City were able to fully learn from a distance for another day due to the snow, overground subway and train services returned early Tuesday, lifting bans on certain large trucks on state highways. Some vaccination sites in the city remained closed, but others, including that of the public hospital system, were open Tuesday.
High water flooded coastal areas of Massachusetts early Tuesday, where the storm had already disrupted the second phase of the state’s vaccine rollout, as a Boston site that would open Monday to residents 75 and older did not; some other massive vaccination sites remained open.
Several parts of Massachusetts were hit with 18-plus inches (45 centimeters) of snow, including the central Massachusetts communities of Fitchburg, Lunenburg, and Ashburnham.
Much of southern New Hampshire received about a foot of snow. Parts of northern New Hampshire, where the state’s ski resorts and most snowmobile trails are, have 9 to 10 inches (22 to 25 centimeters).
“Conditions will be phenomenal in the coming weeks,” said Governor Chris Sununu on Tuesday during an interview on WZID-FM.
In Connecticut, the storm – which dumps up to 48 inches of snow in some areas – forced the cancellation of 10,000 vaccination appointments Monday, state officials said. Efforts are being made to provide vaccinations by the end of the week to people whose appointments have been canceled.
A state of emergency imposed by New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy remained in effect on Tuesday, and the state’s six megasites for COVID-19 vaccines were still closed as shift operators faced downpours and drifting snow.
New Jersey State Police reported that as of 7 p.m. on Monday, troopers had responded to 661 crashes, and 1,050 motorists had come to the rescue since 6 p.m. Sunday.
There was also concern about coastal flooding in New Jersey. In a Facebook video Posted by Union Beach Police, Keyport Police Chief Shannon Torres and Captain Michael Ferm were shown to rescue a man who showed signs of hypothermia in his car from flooding.
In Virginia, four firefighters were taken to hospitals with injuries that were not life-threatening after their fire truck toppled on snow-covered roads in Henrico County on Sunday, The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported.
Power cuts were found to be minimal. About 5,000 customers in Massachusetts and about 3,000 in New York were without power Tuesday morning.
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf declared an emergency following a 76-centimeter snowfall in central and eastern regions. The proclamation freed millions of dollars for snow removal and authorized officials to ask for help from the National Guard.
Authorities said a 67-year-old woman with Alzheimer’s who ran away from her home was found on a street in Allentown with hypothermia Monday morning.
About 60 miles (97 kilometers) to the north in Plains Township, a shooting after an argument over snow removal killed a couple, and the suspect was later found dead at his nearby home from a wound believed to have been self-inflicted, officials in Luzerne County said.