The city is set to get slammed by a winter storm as it battles a growing number of coronavirus cases.
The snowstorm will temporarily put a halt to COVID-19 testing at city Health + Hospitals, pop-up and mobile sites. Testing will end early at 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, and be delayed from starting back up again until noon on Thursday.
“I live around here for years and it’s not going to be good, because I just went to get tested yesterday — long lines — that would mean that there’s a lot of people wanting to make sure they’re safe. But listen, it’s not safe also to go out in the conditions, especially with the storm, so we’ll see how it goes,” a New Yorker named Nora said outside of Elmhurst Hospital.
Another resident was also concerned about the storm’s effect on testing.
“It’s a concern. They should continue doing the testing because the more tests we do, the more tracing we can do, and find out where the source is coming from,” said Mauricio Luna from Floral Park.
But the mayor doesn’t expect the storm to be a big issue, and said temporarily closing testing sites was a necessary safety measure.
“I don’t think it’ll make a huge difference,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio at his briefing Wednesday. “I think when it’s a brief window like this, it should have a limited impact.”
De Blasio also said the snow won’t cause disruption to the COVID-19 vaccine rollout. Deliveries will not be impacted, nor will the city’s ability to vaccinate.
About 1,600 have been vaccinated in the 48 hours since the vaccine reached the city on Monday.
The mayor held his briefing at Elmhurst Hospital, where he observed two frontline health care workers get vaccinated. One of the vaccines was administered by City Health Commissioner Dave Chokshi.
In the next three weeks, the city expects all health care workers at Elmhurst to have been vaccinated, starting with the most high-risk units.
Chokshi said no adverse side effects have been reported in New York City. The most common are mild, and include injection site pain, fatigue or muscle aches in the first 24 to 48 hours after injection.
The city’s COVID-19 positivity rate based on a seven-day rolling average grew to 5.71%.
“The positivity level is too high. It’s not going in the right direction,” said the mayor.
Daily hospitalizations are at 195, with 56% testing positive for coronavirus.