New COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Center to Open in Yonkers

A new vaccination site with the purpose of inoculating 1,000 eligible individuals a day will open next month in Yonkers.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday that the new COVID-19 vaccine distribution site will open on March 3 and be located at the New York National Guard Armory at 2 Quincy Place. Initially, appointments will only be available for Yonkers residents.

Three other community-based vaccination sites will open throughout New York in Buffalo, Rochester, and Albany. The four new locations were selected in partnership with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Cuomo said each site, which will distribute 1,000 vaccine doses daily, will be used to target communities and populations historically underserved by the traditional health care system that were disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. He added the focus is to improve vaccine access to socially vulnerable areas.

“We’re putting four new vaccination sites in socially vulnerable communities outside of New York City where we’ve seen higher positivity rates and lower vaccination rates,” Cuomo said. “These sites will operate with extended hours – each administering 1,000 doses of the vaccine every day – and there is no doubt that they will be the most effective way to get the vaccine out as quickly and as fairly as possible in the communities that need it most and bring use one step closer to winning the war against COVID.”

Up until last month, certain parts of Yonkers were given a Yellow Zone designation by the state due to its high infection rate. The COVID hot spot label resulted in increased testing measures and added restrictions placed on restaurants, businesses, and schools to contain the spread of the virus.

While the designation has since been lifted, Yonkers continues to record the highest active case numbers in Westchester County. Currently, Yonkers has 1,868 active cases of COVID-19.

Overall, there have been 22,880 positive coronavirus cases reported in Yonkers since the start of the pandemic, the most of any Westchester community. 

“We’ve long needed a vaccination hub in Yonkers to better service the portions of our community that have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19,” Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano said. “Equitable access to the vaccine and proper healthcare is essential to curbing the virus and creating a stronger, more resilient Yonkers.”

The Yonkers location marks the fourth vaccination site in Westchester County.

The County Center in White Plains was the first state-run operation to open to eligible prioritization groups 1A and 1B on Jan. 13. Over 50,000 first and second doses of the vaccine have been distributed since.

The 1B group currently consists of police, firefighters, public safety workers, educators, transit personnel, restaurant employees, drivers, grocery store workers, developmentally disabled facility personnel, those with certain comorbidities, and people 65 and up.

Health care workers and group living personnel, who have been eligible since the vaccine rolled out in December, are categorized as Phase 1A.

Westchester Community College, which opened as a vaccine spot two weeks ago, and the Department of Health clinic in White Plains have inoculated nearly 10,000 folks. Both locations are county run.

Various pharmacies throughout the county are only administering the vaccine to individuals ages 65 and up, with area hospitals immunizing health care workers.

“The underserved communities that this mass vaccination site in Yonkers will aim to service are the same residents who have borne the brunt of this deadly virus as it ravaged our nation, state and county,” County Executive George Latimer said. “The same communities that were hit hardest when the nation’s first coronavirus epicenter came to Westchester. These mass vaccination sites are truly the light at the end of the tunnel.”

Click HERE to see if you’re eligible to make an appointment. 

The Latest COVID-19 Data in Westchester, Putnam & New York on Feb. 18

Coronavirus cases increased by 401 in Westchester County on Wednesday, bringing the total number of positive cases to 102,598 since the start of the pandemic.

There are now 6,956 active cases, an increase of 62 over the previous day, state data shows. 

The county’s daily positivity rate is 4.15 percent, with 9,661 tests administered Monday, according to the state tracker. Overall, more than 1.95 million COVID-19 tests have been dispensed in Westchester since March.

The county reported four more deaths on Wednesday, bringing the COVID-19-related death toll to 2,035. There have been 14 virus deaths this week, with 360 since Jan. 1.

As of Feb. 14, there are 412 virus patients in Westchester hospitals, a drop of 86 over the previous week.

Putnam County’s total caseload reached 7,986, with 43 additional positive cases recorded on Wednesday. The county’s daily positivity rate is 6.70 percent, with 642 tests administered on Monday.

Putnam currently has 554 active cases, an increase of 34 over the previous day. 

There have been 84 coronavirus-related deaths since the start of the pandemic, state data shows. There have been 17 fatalities recorded in 2021. No new deaths were added on Wednesday. 

Statewide there were 6,092 new positive cases on Wednesday, with the daily positivity rate clocking in at 3.58 percent. 

There were 109 additional COVID-19-related fatalities, bringing the death toll to 37,440.

Statewide hospitalizations stand at 6,574, a decrease of 46 over the previous day. Across New York there have been 1,548,979 positive coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic.

Vaccine Update 

New York’s health care distribution sites have received 2,263,960 first doses and administered 91 percent of those or 2,068,561. Eighty-six percent of first and second doses have been dispensed.  

The Westchester County government has directly administered 49,593 vaccines to eligible residents since the County Center became a distribution site on Jan. 13. The county health department and Westchester Community College sites have inoculated about 9,573 individuals, as of Tuesday. 

Click HERE to see if you’re eligible to make an appointment. 

Westchester Active Coronavirus Cases by Municipality 

Here are the active cases by municipality in Westchester as of Wednesday. With a lag between the total number of cases confirmed by the state and the tally of cases by town, the total number of municipal cases might be slightly different than what the county’s active cases reflects.

• Ardsley – 27
• Bedford – 70
• Briarcliff Manor – 27
• Bronxville – 32
• Buchanan – 17
• Cortlandt – 137
• Croton-on-Hudson – 43
• Dobbs Ferry – 55
• Eastchester – 163
• Elmsford – 42
• Greenburgh – 232
• Harrison – 153
• Hastings-on-Hudson – 53
• Irvington – 28
• Larchmont – 27
• Lewisboro – 40
• Mamaroneck Town – 46
• Mamaroneck Village – 82
• Mount Kisco – 46
• Mount Pleasant – 169
• Mount Vernon – 554
• New Castle – 72
• New Rochelle – 661
• North Castle – 89
• North Salem – 36
• Ossining Town – 19
• Ossining Village – 185
• Peekskill – 142
• Pelham – 41
• Pelham Manor – 43
• Pleasantville – 35
• Port Chester – 245
• Pound Ridge – 18
• Rye Brook – 51
• Rye City – 60
• Scarsdale – 65
• Sleepy Hollow – 79
• Somers – 130
• Tarrytown – 90
• Tuckahoe – 43
• White Plains – 399
• Yonkers – 1,868
• Yorktown – 248