Vaccines begin for 50, older in state
Goal is to expand distribution, bolster trust in inoculations
Starting Tuesday, any New Yorker age 50 and older will be eligible to sign up for COVID -19 vaccinations, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced.
Cuomo delivered a Monday speech at Grace Baptist Church in Mount Vernon, announcing the expansion of vaccine eligibility and an initiative he called the Roll Up Your Sleeve Campaign.
The state will provide vaccines to churches, synagogues, mosques and other religious facilities that can partner with local health organizations to vaccinate people at the religious facilities. The goal of the initiative is to expand the vaccine distribution network and to bolster public trust in the vaccines.
Cuomo said he thinks endorsement from religious leaders for the vaccines could bring more trust than the endorsements of political leaders or others.
The Capital Region has already seen vaccinations done at churches, synagogues and mosques in tandem with local health departments and pharmacies.
Members of the media were not allowed inside the church and the governor took no questions, although he had a conference call later where he took some questions from select media outlets. Cuomo has not taken questions on-camera in weeks, and he has not taken questions in-person — where his aides are unable to control who gets called on — in months.
Over the last several weeks, the governor has hosted several events at Black churches, flanked by Black clergy, as Cuomo seeks to outlast the calls for his resignation in the wake of the nursing home and alleged sexual harassment scandals that he faces. Polling has suggested that Black voters have stood by Cuomo more so than white voters thus far.
The governor has loosened restrictions on restaurants, casinos and microclusters and has opened up vaccine eligibility over the last few weeks. He points to low positivity rates — they are roughly in line with New York’s from a month ago — as well as low hospitalization and death numbers, while political critics say Cuomo may be loosening restrictions as a way to prop up his own popularity.
Republican legislative leaders held a news conference Monday afternoon at the state Capitol calling on Democrats to repeal Cuomo’s curfew on restaurants and the executive order that requires patrons to purchase food when they buy beverages.
“Are we really supposed to believe that casinos and pool halls are safe from COVID after 11 p.m., but not restaurants? Or that having a cheeseburger on the table keeps us safe from the virus?” said Assemblyman Jarett Gandolfo. The purpose of the governor’s orders is to stop crowds from gathering and socializing at bars, Cuomo has said, which the Republicans did not acknowledge.
Cuomo has said his office is reviewing the curfew on restaurants and would have an announcement about it in April. Republicans are frustrated that while Democrats in the Legislature made headlines by rolling back Cuomo’s emergency powers,
the governor still has a lot of authority over managing the state’s response to COVID -19.
The statewide positivity rate reported Monday was 4.1 percent, up slightly from recent weeks, but the death count reported was 46, the lowest number since Thanksgiving. Cuomo and his health adviser said variants, including the Brazilian one identified over the weekend in a New York City man, are a concern and could be more dangerous and more transmissable.
About 5 million New Yorkers have received at least one dose of the vaccine, and 2.6 million are fully inoculated.
“Over the last couple weeks, the number has basically been flat in the allocation from the federal government. What you will see in the next couple of weeks is a dramatic increase in the allocation,” Cuomo said, particularly if the federal government gives approval to the Astrazeneca shot.
Albany County calls for greater eligibility
Albany County Executive Daniel Mccoy and county Health Commissioner Dr. Elizabeth Whalen on Monday said they wanted to see people 50 and older, as well as more public-facing workers, become eligible for vaccination and would be calling on the governor’s office to expand eligibility to these groups.
Less than two hours after they issued that plea, Cuomo fulfilled one of those wishes.
“What we really want to do is be able to concentrate on getting as many vaccines out as we possibly
can, so to have an expanded eligibility for some of the populations…will be very helpful,” Whalen said.
While 20- to 29-yearolds have accounted for the largest share of coronavirus cases in Albany County, almost all coronavirus deaths in the county (99 percent) and the vast majority of hospitalizations (82 percent) have been among those 50 and older. People age 50 to 74 have been the most-likely age group to be hospitalized and the most-likely to require intensive care while hospitalized in the county and the secondmost likely to die.
Mccoy also called on the state to “broaden the definition of what they consider an essential employee. There are still too many people risking their health and well-being by going into work and keeping our economy running.”
Efforts to vaccinate people who have a tough time leaving their home continue in the county. The county last week redistributed more than 400 single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccines to EMS teams in Colonie and Guilderland for the effort, as well as Marra’s Pharmacy in Cohoes, Eddy Senior Center and Eddy Visiting Nurse and Rehabilitation Center.
The county is also notifying people who were scheduled to receive a second dose of vaccine at the Times Union Center in Albany on Thursday, Saturday and Monday, March 29, that the venue has been changed to the Albany Capital Center at 55 Eagle St. Individuals will be notified of the change by email, Whalen
said.
Coronavirus cases are trending up in Albany County, but so far the county is not seeing a corresponding increase in hospitalizations and deaths.
The county confirmed 50 new cases of the virus overnight Monday and is now averaging 62 cases of the virus a day over a seven-day average. This is up from 54 a week ago.
The good news, however, is that there were no new hospitalizations or deaths to report overnight. It was the first time since Nov. 26 that the county reported no new hospitalizations in a 24hour period and it was the ninth day in a row that the county had no new deaths to report.
Similar trends are being seen across the region: the seven-day average for new daily cases has risen in the past week from 190 on March 14 to 200 on March 21, while hospitalizations appear to have plateaued. No deaths have been reported across the eightcounty region for five days now. The last time the region went that long without a death was September.
Speaking with reporters Monday morning, Mccoy said he’s “a little worried” about spring breakers bringing the virus back to the area after mass congregations of young people were reported in Miami and other parts of the country.
“I can assure you Dr. Whalen and I do not want a third wave and we don’t want to take a step back with hospitalizations or anything like that or the huge spikes that we were getting before,” he said.