A high-stakes race is on: between ramping up distribution of the virus  and the spread of new coronavirus variants.

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Dear Friend,

After the joy of watching the inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, we are left with the cold reality of this pandemic winter. A high-stakes race is on: between ramping up distribution of the virus (while maintaining social distancing) and the spread of new coronavirus variants. Even with all the lives we’ve lost, so many more are at stake.

It is a race we can and must win. The Federal government is, at too long last, starting to be on the public health side of this urgent race. We need to answer that improvement by strengthening the City and State response as well. My office is ramping up our support for people seeking vaccines (more on that below).

The Biden package includes a $200 billion plan (part of the $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief package that Congress must pass immediately) to establish more vaccine sites, streamline and expedite vaccine distribution, and provides funds to hire health care workers to administer the vaccine. It’s been great to hear Dr. Anthony Fauci able to speak freely from the White House podium. And listening to Surgeon General nominee Vivek Murthy ([link removed]) helps to inspire confidence that the new administration has a comprehensive action plan to tackle the COVID crisis.

Unfortunately, on the other side of the race are new coronavirus variants ([link removed]) that originated in England, South Africa, and Brazil, which appear more transmissible. If we don’t quickly scale up vaccine distribution -- and maintain strong mask-wearing, social distancing, business/office closures, and avoiding indoor groups, as hard as all that is -- then cases could start to rise again rapidly.

Because of the lack of supply, vaccine distribution this week has been far too slow this week, back down below 10,000 first doses per day (we had gotten up above 30,000), as first-dose supply dwindled to just 8,000. Fortunately New York received an additional 100,000 vaccine doses today, and Gov. Coumo announced yesterday that the federal allotments will jump by 16% percent next week for New York and other states. It’s a start. You can continue to track the City’s vaccine progress here ([link removed]) .

My office is ramping up our efforts to help as well. We have two great new staff members, Fawziyah Siddiqui and Nicole Krishtul who are working incredibly hard to help constituents, especially isolated seniors who are having technical issues making their vaccine appointments. We are prioritizing assistance for folks who have limited internet proficiency, have language access issues, don’t have family members who can easily help them, and high risk individuals who have not secured a first dose appointment yet. Fawziyah speaks Bangla, and Nicole speaks Russian. You can reach them by email at [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) and [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) .

We’re also working to ramp up outreach efforts by The Neighbor Network ([link removed]) , the remarkable network of volunteers we established back in the spring who reach out to isolated seniors. In the coming days, we hope to offer more opportunities for trained volunteers to help with outreach, to be part of the massive, multilingual public health outreach effort we need.

In the meantime, Neighbor Network continues to use the simple technology of listening, of one-on-one conversations, to help combat social isolation, which -- as Dr. Murthy discusses -- has such deadly effects. Not that we really need the reminder, as we are all feeling the strain of isolation. I know it keeps getting harder, but let’s use the energy that comes from forward progress at the Federal level not only to keep up good public health practices, but to reach back out -- by phone, by text, by zoom, by shouting from the stoop or the window -- to our neighbors. We’re going to need all the connections we can make to win this race.

Take care of yourselves and each other,

Brad
* Latest Virus Data: In NYC, 5,664 new COVID cases were reported January 25th, for a total of 575,332 since the start of the pandemic. We have lost 26,648 people in NYC from the virus, including sadly 90 reported on January 25th. The number of new cases and the positivity rate have been declining slightly for the past week, but the citywide 7-day rolling average of positive test rates is 8.23%. City data here ([link removed]) .
* Vaccine Data: As of today, 1,019,300 vaccine doses have been delivered to New York City, and 650,546 (63%) have been administered (550,715 first doses, 99,831 second doses). For more information on vaccine eligibility, locations, and data, visit the NYC Vaccine Command Center’s Website ([link removed]) . (And you can review our office’s Vaccine FAQ here ([link removed]) ).
* Vaccine Appointment Assistance: We are now providing vaccine appointment assistance for seniors in our community who may need someone to help navigate the City's online appointment system. We are aware that this can be a confusing and frustrating process for many people. At the moment, we are prioritizing assistance for folks who have limited internet proficiency or high risk individuals who have not secured a first dose appointment yet. If you or a loved one have questions about making an appointment, please feel free to give us a call at 718.499.1090 or send us an e-mail at [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) . If you call, please leave a message with your name and phone number as most of our staff is working remotely, but will receive voicemails.
* Volunteer-developed vaccine appointment aggregator site: One of the resources our office has uncovered is this site which consolidates all the available vaccine appointments slots onto one page, making the appointment making a little more user friendly! This site is not affiliated with the City or our office and is completely volunteer run, but we have seen some success with it, you can visit the sitehere ([link removed])
* Get Tested: Even with these new vaccines in circulation it is still so important to keep up our social distancing, wear masks, and get tested. For information about testing sites around the city, visit New York City’s Covid-19 testing website ([link removed]) .
* Community Education Council (CEC) elections: The application to run for a CEC seat will open on Monday 2/1. This year it will be parents and not just PTAs that directly elect CEC members-- and with an estimated 1.25M parents eligible to vote this will be the largest parent engagement program in the country. There are 32 District CECs and 4 city-wide councils in NYC. Each CEC has 9 elected parent members and 2 appointees. Among the 9 elected members, 2 represent students with special needs and English language learners. There is also 1 spot for a HS senior on each council. If you want to be involved in the issues facing schools in your child's district, please consider running for a seat on your CEC. For those elected, this new 2-year term will begin 7/1. Apply to run through your MySchools account. Please visit the NYC DOE CEC election site ([link removed]) for more information.
* CHiPS needs a new refrigerator and PPE: Our beloved community soup kitchen and residence for homeless mothers and infants has been serving the neediest amongst us throughout the pandemic. So many of you have already donated money, prepared food, and toiletries to support their efforts, but now CHiPS is in urgent need of a new refrigerator and additional PPE. To help fund these needs and allow CHiPS to continue on with their incredibly important work you can make a direct donation here ([link removed]) .
* Brooklyn Relief Kitchen needs PPE and Donations: The Brooklyn Relief Kitchen which has been working hard to feed Brooklynites who have been struggling needs PPE, especially face masks and gloves. They are also collecting non-perishable food items and Fresh Direct Bags! You can drop those off Tuesday-Saturday 10am-2pm in from the Old First Church at 7th Ave. You can also directly donate funds here ([link removed]) .
* We are still collecting Fresh Direct Bags for redistribution to food pantries and mutual aid groups: You can drop your Fresh Direct bags (folded, please) at any of the locations and times below:
+ Kensington: 3 Avenue C, Saturdays at 4 PM
+ Park Slope: 256 13th St, M-F, 8 AM to 6 PM
+ Carroll Gardens: 71 3rd Pl, M-F, 8 AM to 6 PM
+ Cobble Hill: 359 Henry St, Mon-Wed, 9 AM to 6 PM

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Contact us:
District 39
456 5th Ave Ste 3
Brooklyn, NY 11215-4076
USA
[email protected]
718-499-1090

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