Vaccinations begin as deaths rise
Nursing homes start getting vaccines as county reports 5 more deaths
KINGSTON, N.Y. » As the COVID-19 vaccine begins its roll out, Ulster County’s continued a deadly month with news Tuesday that five more individuals have died from the virus.
“We’re just three weeks into the month and we have already lost 30,” Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan said during a livestream briefing, “making this clearly one of the deadliest and, of course the most tragic and heartbreaking, weeks that we have had in this entire pandemic.”
The county had seven deaths due to COVID over the weekend and 19 over the past week. The death toll is Ulster County is now at 131. It was 101 on Dec. 1.
“This is serious. This is deadly for a significant number of people and absolutely devastating to families and loved ones across our county,” Ryan said. “So when we talk about the importance of being careful and those precautions, that is why we are talking about it. A lot of these fatalities we believe are linked back ultimately to gatherings that happened around Thanksgiving. As we head into another period of holidays where,
understandably, people want to get together, I just ask that everyone keep that in mind that those decisions do have consequences and, in some cases, those consequences mean the lives of loved ones, especially vulnerable members of our community and seniors.
“And we are so close to getting vaccines to those folks that it makes it even more tragic that we’re losing people now,” Ryan remarked.
Ulster had 312 new cases out of 6,004 tests conducted over the last 96 hours. That is a 5.2% positivity rate. There were 95 new cases Monday, but also 72 recoveries. The active caseload is now at 2,052. Hospitalizations are at 21 with two in intensive care.
To date, the county has at 5,294 confirmed cases and 3,111 recoveries.
Ryan announced that
Tuesday was the first day for vaccines for residents and staff at the county’s 13 senior skilled-nursing and assisted-living facilities. He said the first doses Tuesday were dispensed at the Golden Hill Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Kingston. Ryan said that since Friday 100-120 at-risk health care workers have been vaccinated at HealthAlliance Hospital in Kingston and another 50 at Ellenville Regional.
Ryan also said that inoculations for EMS, EMT and ambulance drivers will start at HealthAlliance on Monday, Dec. 28.
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The Kingston City School District announced Tuesday that it has extended its remote-learning through Monday, Jan. 18, and will resume hybrid learning on Jan. 19. It was scheduled to resume hybrid after the holidays, on Jan. 4.
“As we see the number of positive cases rise in the county, we are also seeing the cases within our schools
rise as well as the quarantines caused by positive cases,” a statement on the district’s webpage read.
This decision comes on the heels of the district being notified by the Ulster County Department of Health Monday that a dozen individuals have tested positive. They were five high school students (three fully remote), two students at Edson Elementary and one remote student at J. Watson Bailey Middle School. There were also staff members at the high school and the Meagher Administration building and teachers at the high school and M. Clifford Miller Middle School. Because of the high school staffer’s test, a teacher and four staff members must quarantine.
The Saugerties Central School District will remain with remote learning through the first week after the holidays, to Jan. 8.
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Ryan announced that the next phase for Project Resilience is supporting se
niors through the expansion of temporary food assistance. He revealed that, on Monday, some of the Resilience funds will go to helping deliver over 17,000 meals over the next three months through Gateway’s Ulster County Meals on Wheels Program. The Ulster County Office for the Aging, through Project Resilience, now has an opportunity to feed over 1,000 meals per week to seniors who had previously been on the waitlist due to a cap of state funding for senior meals.
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Dutchess County went over 1,600 active cases for the first time since May 2. There were 167 new cases from tests conducted Sunday. With only 21 recoveries, the active caseload has risen to 1,657. Deaths and hospitalizations remained the same at 215 and 103, respectively.
To date, the county has had 10,405 confirmed cases and 8,533 recoveries.
In a town-hall livestream
forum, Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro announced that the county will provide assistance to low- and moderate-income residents and small businesses with more than $2.3 million of Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act funding.
The funding will have nearly $1.3 million in eviction prevention, more than $450,000 in economic development relief for small businesses, over $400,000 to childcare, and more than $150,000 for local municipal projects promoting food security and safety for seniors. These initiatives are in addition to the small business grant program and the childcare relief scholarships already underway.
In the schools
• The Rondout Valley Central School District reported that two remote students at the high school tested positive. The district was also notified on Saturday that an on-site student at the Intermediate School tested positive. That has led to seven staff members, six students and one bus driver being required to quarantine.
• Red Hook announced positive tests for a staff member at Mill Road Elementary (intermediate) and a high school teacher.
• Highland reported that a high school student and an elementary teacher both tested positive.
• New Paltz was notified that a remote-learning student at Duzine Elementary was positive.
• Ellenville had an elementary staffer test positive Monday.
•A staff member at Wallkill’s Leptondale Elementary tested positive for COVID.
• A remote student at Marlboro Middle School has tested positive.
Colleges
SUNY New Paltz announced Tuesday that two employees have tested positive.