(MOUNT VERNON, N.Y. / The Journal) — With Halloween and Thanksgiving in the rearview window, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and the New Year are coming fast. After a summer downturn in which many industries reopened and quarantine bubbles expanded with fatigue after the scary spring surprise in the spring, this fall and the winter look to be the greatest challenge yet in the novel coronavirus pandemic.
However, there seems to be good news on the way. Vaccines from pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and Moderna have shown more than 90% efficacy in clinical trials and are currently on timetables for distribution — pending approvals from the federal Food & Drug Administration (FDA) — within the coming weeks and months while other companies GSK (GlaxoSmithKline), Sanofi, and Johnson & Johnson among others, are working on their vaccines.
Those vaccines won’t come for a while, though. The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recently voted in a special session to allow medical professionals as well as residents and staff of long term care nursing homes to receive the vaccine as early as mid-December; the ACIP decision officially notes that the general population will not be able to receive their shots until April or May. There’s also some skepticism on vaccines in general nationwide, but especially with this coronavirus vaccine under the Trump administration. And even then, there’s still a long way to go until the COVID-19 pandemic is over. In a recent briefing to the press and the public, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo warned that scientists and financial industry experts predict that somewhere between June and September, the pandemic may end.
That means there’s still a long way to go in this new normal. Cases are rising in every state, and even in New York State, every region is seeing a terrible uptick to the point that hospital systems could be overwhelmed, and they’re starting to look like it. Strict guidance is back as well as restrictions on gatherings and travel, which is changing up how people are spending the holidays. Up to 10 people are allowed in indoor gatherings according to directives from Gov. Cuomo following guidance from the State Department of Health (NYSDOH) and the CDC while the state is also starting to educate the public that the main cause of an outbreak is currently your own home.
As for what’s going on in the local area, Westchester County is having a slightly different holiday season. The county’s Parks Department is hosting their annual “Winter Wonderland” event at Kensico Dam Plaza in Valhalla now as a drive-thru light show and the annual “Holiday on a Hill” train show at Lasdon Park and Conservatory in Somers has COVID-19 safety protocols in place for visitors. Saint Paul’s Church National Historic Site (part of the National Park Service) which usually decorates for Christmas and takes part in the annual tradition of “Wreaths Across America” in honor of its veterans’ graves, which date from the Revolutionary War until the Second World War. Their grounds are currently open to the public, both the historic cemetery and village green, but not the indoor spaces, such as the visitor center and exhibit hall and the church building itself.
School districts from up north in Westchester ounty as Ardsley and Bedford to as south as Yonkers, Pelham, or even here in Mount Vernon, are seeing sharp rises in confirmed cases of coronavirus. Currently, the Mount Vernon City School District (MVCSD) is in the middle of Phase 2 reopening plans for the second week until Phase 3 starts, even though a recent positive test led to the entire closure of Edward Williams School. As for the other buildings that are open as of now, a few classes and cohorts are to remote learning from home, but they are still limited in actual infections. MVCSD Superintendent Dr. Kenneth R. Hamilton has announced that mass alert notifications via the District’s automated calling system, app, website, and Facebook page will take place when needed as more cases are added to the total count daily. Dr. Hamilton and his District administration as well as the Board of Education are working with the city and Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard's office, the county Department of Health, and NYSDOH throughout the 2020-2021 school year so far on controlling the coronavirus pandemic.
The Journal is tabulating the latest confirmed COVID-19 case counts throughout the MVCSD. Find out the current statistics on our public Google Docs fact sheet at tinyurl.com/MVCSDCovidTrack.
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