Mar 17, 2021
- As of today, New York has administered seven million vaccine shots to eligible New Yorkers, which is great progress. Earlier today, I got the Johnson & Johnson vaccine at the Mount Neboh Baptist Church vaccination site to help spread a key message that all the vaccines work, all of them are safe and New Yorkers should take whatever vaccine they can as soon as they can. We will continue to move our vaccination progress forward as fast as supply allows but as soon as you are eligible, get any of the three vaccines—they are safe and effective. Protect yourself and your family.
Here's what else you need to know tonight:
1. COVID hospitalizations dropped to 4,624. Of the 263,401 tests reported yesterday, 8,976, or 3.41 percent, were positive. There were 954 patients in ICU yesterday, up 11 from the previous day. Of them, 601 are intubated. Sadly, we lost 54 New Yorkers to the virus.
2. As of 11am this morning, 23.5 percent of New Yorkers have completed at least one vaccine dose. Over the past 24 hours, 148,564 total doses have been administered. To date, New York administered 7,003,834 total doses with 12.2 percent of New Yorkers completing their vaccine series. See data by region and county on the State's Vaccine Tracker: ny.gov/vaccinetracker.
4. Indoor fitness classes can resume at limited capacity on March 22. Indoor fitness classes can begin reopening statewide at 33 percent capacity with health screening and contact information required at sign-in. Classes should be scheduled to allow additional time for cleaning and disinfection between sessions. Local health departments shall inspect before or within 2 weeks of the fitness center opening to ensure compliance.
5. Beginning April 5, the 11pm curfew currently in place for casinos, movie theaters, bowling alleys, billiards halls, gyms and fitness centers will be lifted. The 11pm curfew for food and beverage establishments and the midnight curfew for catered events will remain in effect. Both curfews will be re-evaluated in late April.
Tonight's "Deep Breath Moment": When a lost bulldog found its way onto train tracks, two LIRR employees jumped to his rescue. Dog owner Mike Francow was eating his lunch in East Hampton, NY, when his 8-year-old English bulldog Sampson ran away onto nearby train tracks. Thankfully, LIRR engineer Christian Beck saw the lost dog in time to slow down the train to protect the canine. Along with assistant conductor Vinny Fragale, the two lured Sampson onto their train and were able to reunite the bulldog with his owner. Great work by our LIRR team.
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