City’s virus death toll passes 25,000

As authorities ramp up efforts to get New Yorkers vaccinated, the city passed a grim milestone in the COVID crisis: More than 25,000 have died of the disease, according to the latest figures from the Health Department.

“It’s incredibly painful,” Mayor de Blasio said at a Tuesday press conference. “We can never get numb to just how horrible this has been.”

There were 20,255 confirmed COVID deaths and another 4,800 cases in which the victim’s death certificate listed the disease as the cause of death, but the deceased was not known to have gotten positive test results.

Hizzoner nodded to all the New Yorkers who have been marking the holidays without a loved one.

“Every one of these people we’ve lost are part of our lives,” he said. “Part of our families, part of our communities, and all lost to a disease that about a year ago, we had never even heard of.

“It’s shocking, still,” de Blasio added. “It’s shocking.”

Nationwide, there were more than 336,000 COVID deaths as of Tuesday, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Recent days have brought some encouraging news for the hardest-hit city in the country. As of Tuesday morning, 67,116 New Yorkers had received doses of coronavirus vaccine, according to de Blasio. Last Wednesday alone, 12,515 received the vaccine, he added.

The city received its latest batch of vaccine on Monday, according to Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi, and is awaiting word on the number of doses for January from the federal government. The city has received 385,625 doses to date, according to the Health Department. Patients need to get two doses each for the vaccine to be effective.

“I’m hopeful that for both the Pfizer and the Moderna vaccine, there will be sufficient supply for us to keep expanding as quickly as possible,” Chokshi said.

The vaccinations started with high-risk hospital workers and nursing home residents and staff. Last week, the process expanded to staffers at qualified community health clinics, and staff at urgent care centers are getting vaccinated starting this week, according to the city’s top doc.

Once the state gives the green light for members of the public to get the vaccine, it will be administered at hospitals, pharmacies and similar sites.