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Coronavirus Updates: State's Positivity Rate Drops To 5.26% As Vaccine Supply Remains Scarce

Sophia Chang

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Jen Chung

Published Jan 23, 2021

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Dozens of empty Pfizer vaccine vials

John Locher/AP/Shutterstock

Sophia Chang

and

Jen Chung

Published Jan 23, 2021

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This is our daily update of breaking COVID-19 news for Saturday, January 23rd, 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. 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. Certain parts of Staten Island remain under a zoned shutdown.

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:

The state’s COVID-19 positivity rate is slowly dropping, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Saturday.

Statewide, the daily positivity rate was 5.26% Friday, compared to 6.54% Monday, 7.06% Tuesday, 6.84% Wednesday and 5.65% Thursday.

But in New York City, about a third of the city’s ZIP codes -- 55 of the 177 ZIP codes -- have been reporting positivity rates at or above 10% over a seven-day average, according to the city’s Department of Health data.

The state’s data shows New York City, which often conflicts with the state's, has a seven-day positivity average of 5.71% as of Friday.

There were 144 deaths Friday in the state, including nine people in the Bronx, 20 people in Brooklyn, seven in Manhattan, ten people in Queens and two people on Staten Island.

There were 8,802 patients hospitalized Friday in the state, a decrease of 44 patients since Thursday. There were 1,069 newly admitted patients, and 1,562 patients in the ICU, an increase of 16 patients since Thursday. Of those ICU patients, 1,023 were intubated, an increase of 31 patients from Thursday.

The death rate comes as the vaccine distribution efforts have come to a crawl.

"We have the network in place to distribute the vaccine, but not enough of the vaccines themselves," Cuomo said in a statement Saturday. "That's why New Yorkers need to stay vigilant as we continue to battle the pandemic and use the tools that have worked so well all along—wearing masks, washing hands and social distancing. We remain focused on making sure there are enough hospital beds and boosting our testing to ever-higher levels. We will get through the pandemic and reach a new day, but in the meantime it will take New Yorkers working together in their communities to get us through to the light at the end of the tunnel."

Pfizer Will Ship Fewer Vaccine Vials, Because Of "Extra" Doses

Because vaccinating as many people as possible remains a key to getting back to normal, an unexpected boon that came in December was the discovery that Pfizer vaccine vials contained six (sometimes seven) doses, not the five expected—enabling up to a 20-40% increase in the vaccine supply. Now, it turns out that Pfizer will deliver fewer vials—but the same number of total doses—after getting the Food and Drug Administration to approve this change earlier this month (and before President Joe Biden took office).

The New York Times reported that Pfizer was able to lobby the FDA to adjust their contract for 200 million doses, as their contract with the federal government requires it be paid per dose. "And there were serious public health implications. If the label’s formal language told people administering the vaccine that the vial contained a sixth dose, that could accelerate the pace of vaccinations at a crucial time."

However, a challenge that pharmacists have is actually getting the sixth dose from the vial. Extracting that "extra" dose requires a specialized syringe, versus a standard one. The federal government is now trying to allocate specialized "low dead space syringes" to vaccination sites.

"Now there’s more pressure to make sure that you get that sixth dose out,” Michael Ganio of American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, told the Times.

European nations have been battling with Pfizer over the sixth dose, because the pharmaceutical company has reduced the number of vials it is shipping. Some countries had been counting on the additional supply to help their vaccination efforts. According to the Wall Street Journal, after Pfizer announced it would reduce vaccine shipments to Italy, a government spokesperson said they were "worried and alarmed ... It deplores the company’s behavior." Italy is also exploring legal action against the company.

"We will fulfill our supply commitments in line with our existing agreements — which are based on delivery of doses, not vials," Pfizer spokesperson Amy Rose said.

Currently, the vaccine supply—which is made up of doses from Pfizer and Moderna—remains alarmingly low in New York, to the point where tens of thousands of vaccination appointments have been cancelled.

Tagged

COVID-19

coronavirus

covid-19 updates

pfizer

vaccine

Sophia Chang

Sophia Chang is a former WNYC and Gothamist reporter.

Jen Chung

Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.

Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

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