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Friday, December 18, 2020
Vol. 8, No. 51
GUIDE TO WINTER
MANHASSET AUTHOR WINS AWARDS
COUNTY OK OKss NIFA REFINANCING DEBT
PAGES 21-36
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Vaccines arrive; deaths rise BY R O S E WELDON AND ROBERT PELAEZ New York state’s largest health system, Northwell Health, made history on Monday by vaccinating the first person in the United States against COVID-19. In a Zoom conference with Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Dr. Michelle Chester, director of employee health care, injected Pfizer Inc.’s vaccine into Sandra Lindsay of Port Washington, an intensive care nurse at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park. Northwell President and CEO Michael Dowling was also present. “Today is V-Day in our fight against COVID-19,” Dowling told the governor. “This truly is a historic day for science and humanity, one in which we here in New York and across the United States have been waiting for quite some time.” The system said Lindsay’s PHOTO BY SCOTT HEINS, COURTESY OF THE OFFICE OF GOV. ANDREW CUOMO participation kick-started a long-anticipated vaccination deSandra Lindsay, a registered nurse and director of critical care at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park, ployment program throughout receives the COVID-19 vaccine during a live conference with Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Continued on Page 44
‘Understaffed’ Guggenheim goes remote BY R O S E W E L D ON
learning for all of this week due to understaffing, according to Guggenheim Elementary Superintendent Michael Hynes. In a letter sent to parents School in the Port Washington school district shifted to remote and community members, and
posted to Facebook by the Guggenheim Home School Association, Hynes said that what was “happening across Long Island regarding the increase in people testing positive for COVID-19 is now directly impacting our district.” “An increasing number of our staff members have either tested positive, or
have been identified as close contacts in out-of-school scenarios, and have been ordered to quarantine,” Hynes wrote. “With an additional three staff members who have tested COVID-19 positive, we have close to 20 percent of Guggenheim’s staff needing to quarantine. Unfortunately, even with the several additional staff members hired this summer, this
is resulting in the district being understaffed at Guggenheim Elementary School.” He said that as a result of the understaffing, the district made the “difficult decision” that students and staff would follow a remote schedule for five days, beginning Monday and ending Friday. Continued on Page 55
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