This is our daily update of breaking COVID-19 news for Sunday, January 17th, 2021. Previous daily updates can be found here, and up-to-date statistics are here.
New York City is in Phase 4 of reopening now, which includes zoos, botanical gardens, museums, and gyms. Citing rising hospitalization rates, Governor Andrew Cuomo suspended indoor dining in NYC starting December 14th. After being shut down for several weeks, NYC public schools partially reopened on December 7th for 3K-5th grade students, with students with special needs returning on December 10th. Certain parts of Staten Island remain under a zoned shutdown.
Get answers to questions you may have with our “Ask An Epidemiologist” series, or learn more about NYC COVID-19 testing options with our explainer. Here are some local and state hotlines for more information: NYC: 311; NY State Hotline: 888-364-3065; NJ State Hotline: 800-222-1222.
Here’s the latest:
10:13 a.m.: The 24/7 vaccination site at the Brooklyn Army Terminal has closed after running out of doses, a City Hall spokesperson confirmed on Sunday.
The site is temporarily closed, according to the spokesperson, but it is not clear when it would reopen. The NY Post reports it was closed for the second day in a row on Saturday.
The site first opened last Sunday, becoming the first 24/7 vaccination site along with the Bronx’s Bathgate postal station site.
Those who had appointments at the Brooklyn Army Terminal were supposed to be offered new time slots to come back and get vaccinated. The spokesperson did not immediately have information on how many appointments were cancelled.
The lack of doses has impacted some hospitals across the city as supplies of the COVID-19 vaccine run low. Mount Sinai cancelled all appointments from Friday to Tuesday “due to sudden changes in vaccine supply,” a hospital spokesperson previously said. NYU Langone was also running low on doses, with 1,000 doses for second shot appointments leftover for Monday, Bloomberg reported late last week.
Mayor Bill de Blasio warned Friday that the city was poised to run out of doses by the end of next week and the city on Friday had just 186,000 doses left over. He called on the federal government to send more doses.
City data as of Sunday showed 404,654 doses have been administered and 395,846 doses on hand—indicating supplies have risen since Friday. But it is not clear how those supplies would be allocated around the city or impact the Brooklyn site or hospital vaccine appointments.
Just days ago, the Brooklyn Army Terminal site became a symbol of the logistical nightmare the city faces to get million vaccinated. On Thursday night, a viral message on social media attracted a swarm of New Yorkers to the site after word spread that the Brooklyn Army Terminal would administer extra doses that were set to expire on a first-come, first-served basis.
In another snafu at a state-run vaccination site, some 20,000 appointments were cancelled after a scheduling website was shared before it went live.