NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- Hospitals across New York state will face up to $100,000 in fines if they do not use their current COVID-19 vaccine inventories before the week is up, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday.
New York's hospitals have used approximately 46 percent of the state's total vaccine allocation over the past three weeks, Cuomo said at a news briefing. That percentage, however, is not high enough, the governor said.
"I don't mean to embarrass any hospital, but I want them to be held accountable," he said. "We want those vaccines in people's arms."
Any hospital that does not use up its vaccine inventory by the end of this week will face a fine of up to $100,000, he said. Going forward, hospitals must use their allotments within seven days of receipt or face being disqualified from future distribution.
"We are very serious about it," Cuomo said. "This is a very serious public health issue."
The state will also be stepping in to speed up the federal government's distribution of vaccines in nursing homes, he said.
Two hundred and eighty-eight of the state's approximately 611 nursing homes, or 47 percent, have administered their residents' first COVID-19 vaccine doses, Cuomo said.
"We are going to supplement and expedite the federal program, and 234 additional doses will happen this week, which will get us up to 85 percent of the nursing home residents by the end of this week," he said.
The remaining 15 percent of nursing home residents will receive their first vaccine doses over the next two weeks, he noted.
As part of its effort to speed up distribution, New York will establish drive-thru sites for vaccine distribution; recruit retired healthcare workers to administer vaccines; and partner with public housing complexes, churches and community centers to set up "pop-up vaccine sites," he added.
New York state on Monday reported 170 new COVID-19-related fatalities, Cuomo said at his briefing.
As of Sunday night, 8,251 New Yorkers were hospitalized with COVID-19, 1,357 of whom were in intensive care and 843 of whom were on ventilators.
Of the 134,360 COVID-19 test results that came back in the state on Sunday, 11,209, or 8.34 percent, were positive, he said.
Cuomo on Monday also said schools in counties with a COVID-19 positivity rate over 9 percent will be allowed to stay open if in-school testing shows they are "below the community average."
