Nassau Coronavirus: County Working To Inoculate As Virus Spreads

NASSAU COUNTY, NY — Nassau County is working to distribute as much coronavirus vaccine as possible, but efforts are being stymied by a short supply that has been sent to the state by the federal government, officials said.

According to Nassau County Executive Laura Curran, the county and its hospitals have inocculated more than 50,000 people to date. The county opened its first vaccine distribution site last week and a second over the weekend, and has already administered 3,302 doses of the coronavirus vaccine.

"Our focus remains on containing the virus," Curran said. "We're also working to get as many vaccines into arms as quickly as possible. As quickly as we get them, we're getting them into people's arms. not one dose will be wasted."

A point of contention from resident's has been the online vaccine sign-up page the county uses. It gets overwhelmed with applicants and can crash, and the appointment slots for vaccines quickly fill up. Curran said that the county has to use the state's application form for residents to sign up for vaccines, and that she has petitioned the state to improve the site.

Dr. Lawrence Eisenstein, the county's health commissioner, explained that there were so few sign-up slots because the county has a limited vaccine allotment. The county gets about 500 doses a day, he said, but that's not guaranteed. So the county only takes appointments one day out after it knows how much vaccine it will get. That way, Eisenstein explained, the county isn't making appointments for future dates when it may not have vaccine to distribute.

" I will continue to do everything I can to get our residents protected from this virus as quickly, efficiently and safely as possible," said Curran.

But despite the rollout of the vaccine, coronavirus cases in the county continue to climb. Nassau surpassed 100,000 total infections over the weekend, with more than half of those being documented since November. There have so far been nearly 2,500 deaths.

December was the worst month on record for the county in terms of new cases. But January is on pace to have even more infections. December ended with 28,298 total documented infections. As of Jan. 11, there have been 16,037 confirmed cases, with 95 deaths this month. Every day so far this month has seen more than 1,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Nassau County.

Cases in individual towns reflect the overall trends. There are now 34 communities in the county that have recorded more than 1,000 cases, out of 134 communities the county tracks. Multiple communities have more than 3,000 cases. Hempstead, the hardest-hit community, has recorded 4,259 cases.

Here are the latest community totals, according to data from Nassau County:

• Albertson: 271
• Atlantic Beach: 137
• Baldwin: 1,644
• Baldwin Harbor: 543
• Barnum Island: 178
• Baxter Estates: 57
• Bay Park: 136
• Bayville: 430
• Bellerose: 78
• Bellerose Terrace: 147
• Bellmore: 1,022
• Bethpage: 1,047
• Brookville: 161
• Carle Place: 348
• Cedarhurst: 607
• Centre Island: 8
• Cove Neck: 13
• East Atlantic Beach: 141
• East Hills: 310
• East Massapequa: 1,274
• East Meadow: 2,778
• East Norwich: 169
• East Rockaway: 704
• East Williston: 122
• Elmont: 2,849
• Farmingdale: 555
• Floral Park: 895
• Flower Hill: 257
• Franklin Square: 2,323
• Freeport: 3,607
• Garden City: 1,148
• Garden City Park: 442
• Garden City South: 223
• Glen Cove: 2,262
• Glen Head: 316
• Glenwood Landing: 199
• Great Neck: 918
• Great Neck Estates: 173
• Great Neck Gardens: 65
• Great Neck Plaza: 440
• Greenvale: 44
• Harbor Hills: 46
• Harbor Isle: 112
• Hempstead: 4,259
• Herricks: 246
• Hewlett: 534
• Hewlett Bay Park: 23
• Hewlett Harbor: 118
• Hewlett Neck: 33
• Hicksville: 3,007
• Inwood: 897
• Island Park: 458
• Jericho: 696
• Kensington: 50
• Kings Point: 509
• Lake Success: 151
• Lakeview: 414
• Lattingtown: 91
• Laurel Hollow: 82
• Lawrence: 793
• Levittown: 3,541
• Lido Beach: 171
• Locust Valley: 199
• Long Beach: 2,356
• Lynbrook: 1,246
• Malverne: 538
• Malverne Oaks: 28
• Manhasset: 466
• Manhasset Hills: 204
• Manorhaven: 376
• Massapequa: 1,532
• Massapequa Park: 1,199
• Mattinecock: 31
• Merrick: 1,230
• Mill Neck: 50
• Mineola: 1,283
• Munsey Park: 110
• Muttontown: 182
• New Cassel: 1,080
• New Hyde Park: 658
• North Bellmore: 1,281
• North Hills: 269
• North Lynbrook: 48
• North Massapequa: 1,227
• North Merrick: 768
• North New Hyde Park: 1,019
• North Valley Stream: 1,298
• North Wantagh: 801
• Oceanside: 2,018
• Old Bethpage: 309
• Old Brookville: 128
• Old Westbury: 188
• Oyster Bay: 428
• Oyster Bay Cove: 151
• Plainedge: 630
• Plainview: 1,430
• Plandome: 59
• Plandome Heights: 69
• Plandome Manor: 39
• Point Lookout: 89
• Port Washington: 746
• Port Washington North: 130
• Rockville Centre: 1,430
• Roosevelt: 1,406
• Roslyn: 221
• Roslyn Estates: 66
• Roslyn Harbor: 73
• Roslyn Heights: 432
• Russell Gardens: 37
• Saddle Rock: 85
• Saddle Rock Estates: 31
• Salisbury: 726
• Sands Point: 149
• Sea Cliff: 237
• Seaford: 1,091
• Searingtown: 246
• South Farmingdale: 905
• South Floral Park: 88
• South Hempstead: 231
• South Valley Stream: 426
• Stewart Manor: 124
• Syosset: 760
• Thomaston: 113
• Uniondale: 2,631
• University Gardens: 26
• Upper Brookville: 102
• Valley Stream: 2,845
• Wantagh: 1,296
• West Hempstead: 1,398
• Westbury: 1,174
• Williston Park: 435
• Woodbury: 598
• Woodmere: 1,670
• Woodsburgh: 72