Ten months into the novel coronavirus pandemic, a vaccine for the virus will arrive in New York City next week, Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Tuesday.
“We’ve got to get through December, January, and January into February … this is the last big battle before us and then the vaccine will we’ll be able to do the work,” said de Blasio.
Last week, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that New York state will receive its first delivery of 170,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine by Dec. 15, which the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Tuesday met the “prescribed success criteria,” according to the Wall Street Journal.
The state plans to distribute the first batch of doses to nursing home residents and staff followed by health care workers. Officials are still working out the details on how exactly the vaccine will be distributed among health care workers.
In addition, a new rapid COVID-19 testing facility will open at La Guardia Airport this Thursday, Dec. 10.
The site comes as the city works to knock down increasing numbers of COVID-19 across the city. On Tuesday, the city reported 2,624 new cases and probable cases of the virus and a daily positivity rate based on a seven-day rolling average of 4.94 percent, just under Mayor Bill de Blasio’s 5 percent threshold.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said that 161 New York City residents were hospitalized on Sunday with possible COVID-19 symptoms with 47 percent testing positive for the virus, adding that 2.30 New York City residents out of 100,000 have been hospitalized due to the virus.
In November, the airport opened a COVID-19 testing site where travelers arriving or departing from the airport could get tested for the virus for free. Although city officials have repeatedly discouraged traveling during this holiday season, those that need to travel by air must show proof of a negative COVID-19 test result before being allowed to board an aircraft.
This story originally appeared on amny.com.
