UP AND RUNNING
NY-run vaccination site opens at fairgrounds in New Paltz; new Ulster County facility at mall administers 2,300 shots
A steady stream of people flowed into the new state-run coronavirus vaccination site at the Ulster County Fairgrounds on Friday, the first day it was open.
The inoculation facility in the Youth Building on the Libertyville Road property is one
of 10 new state-run sites across New York where people can get COVID-19 shots. The addition of the 10 brings the number of state-run vaccination centers to 29.
The new state-run sites in New Paltz and at SUNY Orange in Middletown are the only ones in the Mid-Hudson Valley. Prior to Friday, the closest state operations
to the region were at SUNY Albany and in Westchester County.
Friday also was the second day of operation for Ulster County’s new “point of dispensing,” or POD, site in the former
Best Buy store at Hudson Valley Mall in the town of Ulster. The POD site previously was in the Kate Walton Field House at Kingston High School.
Assistant Deputy County Executive Daniel Torres said 2,300 doses of COVID vaccine were administered Friday in the former electronics store, one of the
largest single-day totals for Ulster since shots first were given in January.
And “it moved pretty fast,” Torres said.
Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan said Thursday that the county is looking for additional people to staff the new operation at the mall. Though described as “volunteer” positions, the jobs come with a stipend.
Medical professionals who work at the site will be paid $250 per day, and nonmedical personnel will be paid $150 per day, Torres said. Interested persons can sign up online at bit.ly/ ucvax-med (for medical professionals) or bit.ly/ucvaxnonmed (all others).
Appointments for vaccinations at the New Paltz site, and others run by the state, can be made online at covid19vaccine. health.ny.gov. Eligible Ulster County residents can sign up for shots at the two county-run sites — at the mall and in Ellenville — at vaccinateulster.com.
By the numbers
Ulster County on Friday reported 1,613 active cases COVID-19, up 21 from the 1,592 the county reported Thursday.
Ulster also said there were 87 COVID diagnoses out of the most recent 1,424 test results received, a rate of 6 .1%.
The county has had 12,045 confirmed cases of COVID, 10,193 recoveries and 239 deaths since the local outbreak began last March. No additional deaths were reported Friday.
Dutchess County reported Friday that it had 1,150 active cases of COVID, a jump of 126 from the 1,024 it reported Thursday. The number of county residents hospitalized with the illness, meanwhile, fell by one, from 53 to 52.
Dutchess reported no additional COVID-related deaths. It has lost 418 residents to the illness since the local outbreak began.
The county has had 24,282 confirmed cases of COVID since last March, and its latest seven-day average of positive test results is 4.54%.
In the schools
The Saugerties school district said in a letter to parents on Friday that it hopes to start four-day-aweek in-person learning for students in grades kindergarten through six on April 5 and for students in grades seven through 12 on April 12.
The district said the start dates could be pushed back by a week and that it will provide a final decision by March 24.
The Kingston school district announced earlier this week that its elementary school students will be back in their classrooms for four days a week starting April 19.
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Newly reported cases of COVID-19 in area school districts are as follows, according to New York state.
• Kingston: One on-site student at Chambers Elementary School. one onsite student at J. Watson Bailey Middle School, and one on-site high school student and one off-site high schooler.
• Highland: Two on-site high school students.
• Marlboro: One on-site high school student.
• New Paltz: One off-site middle schooler.
• Saugerties: One on-site high school student.
• Wallkill: One on-site high schooler.