Demand for COVID tests, vaccinations rise as future of pandemic remains uncertain

More New Yorkers are going to get tested and vaccinated in the two weeks since Thanksgiving, as the future of what the pandemic will bring remains uncertain.

News 12 Staff

Dec 16, 2021, 10:27 PM

Updated 1,034 days ago

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More New Yorkers are going to get tested and vaccinated in the two weeks since Thanksgiving, as the future of what the pandemic will bring remains uncertain.
News 12's Jonathan Gordon was outside the Greenburgh Health Center in White Plains to check on the surge in patients they are seeing.
The demand for both across the Mount Vernon Neighborhood Health Center Network has quadrupled in the two weeks since Thanksgiving. The network's CEO, Judith Watson, says operations went from 0-60 right after the holidays.
They went from testing 20 to 30 people a day to 120 and vaccinating about 65 to more than 200 every single day since Thanksgiving.
She adds it's a combination of many factors: some jobs now require their employees to get vaccinated, there's more community spread, and people are testing both before and after holiday gatherings.
Gov. Kathy Hochul has previously warned about the difficult winter ahead for COVID-19, but plans to send at-home testing kits to certain ZIP codes with high case rates.
Several new reports say the Biden administration is already warning test makers that they believe the demand for tests could double or triple by the new year as the omicron variant continues to spread.