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Coronavirus News: Calls on Long Island to make Nassau Coliseum vaccine center, use NYC mega sites

COVID-19 News and Information

Friday, February 5, 2021

Calls on LI to make Coliseum vaccine center, use NYC mega sites

While New York state is reporting its lowest positivity and hospitalization rates in months, the numbers still remain high on Long Island.

LONG ISLAND (WABC) -- While New York state is reporting its lowest positivity and hospitalization rates in months, the numbers still remain high on Long Island.

Now, there are calls for the Nassau Coliseum to be used as a mass vaccination site and for additional vaccines from the federal government.

Sites run by Nassau County hope to have 2,500 teachers vaccinated by the end of the week, but officials say it certainly wasn't easy getting to this point -- and still isn't easy moving forward.

"I don't think it's right that I can't get my mom, who's 88, an appointment," Glen Cove teacher Valerie Scicchitano said. "I've been trying for weeks and weeks to refresh the page over and over again, and I can't get her an appointment."

It is a complaint that Nassau legislators, many of them Republican, also lobbed at the Democrat County Executive Laura Curran Friday.

They want the Coliseum used as a mass vaccination site, and they also want Curran to pressure New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio to allow Long Islanders to use city mega-sites like the one at Yankee Stadium.

Video shows the setup that took place to transform the iconic ballpark into a medical facility, New York State's latest vaccination mega-site.

"Allow Nassau County residents to get vaccinated in New York City, just like we're allowing New York City residents to get vaccinated here in Nassau County," Legislator John Ferretti (R-Levittown) said.

Curran said the main problem is supply.

"I think the more distribution we get, the better," she said. "But the bottom line is, all of these questions lead back to one issue, and that is, we just don't have the supply at the moment."

There is some good news on the COVID front, however, as the positivity rate in Nassau continues to drop. It was below 5% on Friday, and county officials say they have now seen a 26% drop in COVID cases over the past two weeks.

Still, they are pleading for a greater allotment of vaccine in the weeks to come.

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