New Delhi: According to reports citing statements made by Mayor Bill de Blasio, New York is offering $100 to every citizen who receives their first dose of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) vaccine at any of the city-run vaccination sites.
The discovery coincides with an increase in new Covid-19 infections in the United States as the more infectious delta variant spreads like wildfire across the country.
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“I think when someone says here’s $100 for you, that’s going to make a big impact,” the New York Times quoted de Blasio as saying.
“The key is vaccination. We can talk about so many other issues with Covid-19, but if we're not talking about vaccination then we're not talking about the solution.”
New York till Wednesday had vaccinated nearly 71 percent of all adults in the city as approximately 59 percent of the city's total population received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. According to the report, more than 65 percent of adults and 54 percent of New York City's total population have been fully vaccinated, as per the report.
The coronavirus delta variant, on the other hand, complicates matters. Certain parts of New York seem to be nearly becoming a Covid-19 hotspot again. CDC has suggested that authorities impose mandatory masking for both vaccinated and unvaccinated citizens.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued new guidelines on Tuesday recommending that both vaccinated and unvaccinated Americans wear masks in areas where there were more than 50 new cases per 100,000 residents in the previous week, or where more than 8% of Covid-19 tests came back positive in the same period.
According to the publication, all five of New York's boroughs check the boxes under these criteria. While Brooklyn and Manhattan had 78.1 and 70.4 positive cases per 100,000 residents, respectively, Staten Island had 109 positive cases per 100,000 residents last week.
New York mayor de Blasio refers to this as "complicated information". “So our health team is reviewing, and we’ll have more to say on it in the next few days,” he was quoted as saying.