Coronavirus Updates: City To Open 24/7 Vaccination Site At Yankee Stadium On Friday

This is our daily update of breaking COVID-19 news for Wednesday, February 3rd, 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, but it's slated to return with limited capacity on Valentine's Day.

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.

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:

• Cuomo Opens Door For Restaurant Workers, Taxi Drivers To Get Vaccinated. Can NYC Handle It?
• Andrew Yang Tests Positive For Coronavirus
• Women Account For 100% Of Job Losses At The End Of 2020, With Black And Brown Women Hit Hardest

Yankee Stadium will be the next 24/7 vaccination site to open starting Friday, Mayor Bill de Blasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo announced on Wednesday.

The home of the Bronx Bombers on East 161st Street near River Avenue will exclusively serve Bronx residents looking to get inoculated with the coronavirus, according to a joint statement by the mayor and governor. Workers with SOMOS Healthcare Network, which largely serves Spanish-speaking neighborhoods, will administer the vaccine at the site through a partnership between the city and state.

“This mega site shows what our grassroots, equity-driven NYC Vaccine for All effort is all about,” Mayor de Blasio said in a statement. “Yankee Stadium has always been known for its World Series banners, but now it’ll be recognized as a place where the people of the surrounding community in the Bronx can receive the vaccine doses that they need and deserve.”

The Bronx, home to high comorbidity rates that include heart disease and obesity, has some of the highest numbers of reported COVID-19 deaths per 100,000, according to city data. 4,513 deaths have been officially attributed to COVID-19 in the Bronx so far, with another 954 deaths listed as "probable" COVID deaths.

“It’s abundantly clear that Black, Latino and poor communities have been hit the hardest by COVID, and the Bronx is no exception,” Cuomo said. “Our efforts to target vaccinations by locations with higher positivity rates have been working to not only keep the infection rate down, but to help ensure equity in our vaccine distribution process, and opening a mass vaccination site at Yankee Stadium – the Bronx’s most iconic landmark - is the perfect solution to helping this borough get vaccinated and defeat COVID once and for all.”

Yankee Stadium is located in the Concourse neighborhood, one of 33 neighborhoods identified as hardest hit by the COVID-19, requiring even greater care, according to de Blasio.

In a statement, the Yankees organization said the two-dose vaccines will "make an immediate difference in improving the health of our local community."

The news comes as Citi Field, the home stadium for the New York Mets in Flushing, Queens, has delayed its 24/7 vaccination site due to shortages in the city's vaccine supply. There is no expected date of reopening for the massive Mets site.

Line Cooks Face Higher Risks From COVID-19. Will They Be Prioritized For Vaccine?

3:45 p.m.: Restaurant workers are now eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine. The next obvious question is: Who goes first? The new guidelines just opened up the city’s limited supply of vaccine to approximately 800,000 restaurants and food services, many of which have been financially struggling for months due to the lockdown. With restaurants due to open at 25% capacity on Valentine’s Day, there will likely be run on appointments, and currently, fewer than 105,000 shots are set aside for first doses.

If the city is looking to prioritize, they might want to start with line cooks. Researchers at the University of California San Francisco released a preliminary report on January 22nd showing that line cooks experienced the highest increase in mortality risk—a 60% jump—among working adults in The Golden State. Bakers weren’t far behind with a 50% hike. Chefs, head cooks and bartenders landed around 30%. The study collected death data from March to October of 2020.

“What you see on this on this very tragic list of jobs is that these are low-wage jobs,” Alicia Riley, a sociologist at UCSF and study co-author, told CNBC. The study noted racial disparities, too. Latino workers experienced a 39% increase in excess mortality, but it was highest among Latino food and agriculture employees. For Black people, retail work carried the most risk. With Asian communities, it was health care workers. The riskiest sector for white people was also food and agriculture.

No matter who gets prioritized, Mayor Bill de Blasio says the city will need more vaccine—and fast.

“We've done so far 837,292 doses since day one. That's really good,” the mayor said during a press briefing Wednesday. “That is nothing compared to what we could be doing if we had the supply.”

10:45 a.m: New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi announced Wednesday that he has caught the coronavirus and plans to isolate. He said his diagnosis was a stark reminder of the existential threat posed by the pandemic.

“We all must continue to wear masks, wash our hands, socially distance and stay home if feeling ill,” Chokshi said in a statement. He listed his symptoms as mild and manageable.

Chokshi added that the city’s Test and Trace Corps will work to find his recent contacts and notify them of their potential exposure. His recent appearances at the mayor’s regular press briefings have been remote.

Asked what contact he's had with Dr. Chokshi recently, Mayor Bill de Blasio on Wednesday told reporters, "I have not seen him in person in a while." Dr. Mitchell Katz, CEO of NYC Health + Hospitals, noted that "so much of our government now, as shown in this presser, is done remotely. I've talked with Dave [Chokshi] twice a day, but I can't remember the last time I was in the same room with him."

At Wednesday’s briefing, the city’s top public health advisor Jay Varma said he and Chokshi hadn’t been vaccinated yet because they were waiting their turn and to balance the ethics of taking a dose before those who are more vulnerable. Varma said Chokshi was planning to get immunized after he had served a required number of shifts in local vaccination clinics, which dictate eligibility for the city’s health care workers.