New York City is taking a big step forward in the fight against the coronavirus. Over the weekend, five new vaccination sites opened across city, including two mega-sites that are now open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
1:30 p.m.: Lawmakers may have been exposed to COVID-19 while on lockdown during the deadly Capitol riot in which a mob of pro-Trump insurrectionists violently raided the Capitol, the Associated Press reports.
The attending physician of the Capitol, Dr. Brian Moynihan, told lawmakers on Sunday that individuals may have been exposed to another occupant with coronavirus infection while in protective isolation for several hours during the Capitol takeover, according to an alert sent to House lawmakers shared with Gothamist. Some were inside the room longer than others, Moynihan noted.
A number of lawmakers who were hiding in the secure location during the insurrection refused to wear face masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Video from inside the room shows Delaware Democrat Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester handing out face masks, only to be rebuffed by some Republicans present, including Representatives Andy Biggs (Arizona), Michael Cloud (Texas), Markwayne Mullin (Oklahom
Also opening Sunday: the first vaccine hubs in Brooklyn (Bushwick Educational Campus), Queens (Hillcrest High School) and the Bronx (South Bronx Educational Campus). Those will be open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and require advance appointment scheduling on the city s Department of Health website.
The three new hubs and two 24-hour centers add to the city s library of some 125 sites already providing the vaccine to qualified New Yorkers. The majority of those 125 sites are hospitals, clinics and federally qualified health centers and urgent care.
Opening up new hubs comes as the state expands its eligibility criteria for those allowed to receive their first shots. Beginning Monday, the state welcomes people in group 1B (teachers, police and firefighters, public transit and safety workers, and people over 75) to schedule appointments.
New York found three additional cases of the more transmissible U.K. COVID strain now confirmed in at least six other states, including nearby Pennsylvania and Connecticut, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Saturday. State health officials have confirmed a total of four cases so far, but Cuomo’s team believes that number is likely higher as new cases of the U.K. variant are.