Bus rides to vaccination site now free
Number of doses expected from state this week — 7,700 — is largest so far
Ulster County is making it easier for its residents to get to the county’s COVID-19 vaccination site in the town of Ulster at a time when the state is stepping up the number of vaccine doses being sent to the county.
County Executive Pat Ryan announced during a Facebook Live briefing Tuesday that the county has begun free bus rides to the vaccination site in the former Best Buy store at Hudson Valley Mall.
“We in the county are doing everything we can to remove the barriers to getting a vaccine,” Ryan said.
Ryan said the free rides will be available on all Ulster County Area Transit buses that go directly to the mall or offer transfers to ones that do.
He said residents will need to show their vaccination appointment confirmation document to ride for free.
Additionally, Ryan said, for residents ages 60 and older, as well as disabled residents, the county will offer free curb-tocurb transportation. That service will need to be arranged at least 24 hours in advance by calling UCAT at (845) 334
8120, the executive said.
A shot in the arm
The announcement of the free bus rides coincided with the New York expanding vaccine eligibility to all people ages 16 and up and the news that Ulster County is getting its largest-ever weekly allocation of vaccine doses from the state.
Ryan said Ulster is to receive 7,700 doses of the vaccine this week, a jump of 1,000 from last week’s outlay and far more than the county has received during any previous week of the local vaccination campaign, which started in January.
There also will be 5,850 doses available this week at the state-run vaccination site on the Ulster County Fairgrounds in New Paltz, meaning a total of 13,550 shots will go into arms in Ulster County this week, Ryan said.
At that rate, he said, all eligible county residents could be vaccinated within the next two or three months.
The state’s online vaccine tracker reported 70,407 Ulster County residents had received at least one dose of the vaccine as of 11 a.m. Tuesday, accounting for about 39.5% of the population, and 42,319 residents (just under 24%) had received both doses.
In Dutchess County, according to the state, 103,643 residents, or 35.3% of the population, had received at least one dose of the vaccine as of 11 a.m. Tuesday, while 59,503 residents (20.2%) had received both doses.
Appointments to be vaccinated at state-run sites, including the one in New Paltz, can be made online at covid19vaccine.health. ny.gov. Appointments to be vaccinated at the Ulster County-run site at the mall can be made at vaccinateulster.com. Dutchess County’s vaccination sign-up site is bit.ly/dut-vax.
By the numbers
Ulster County on Tuesday reported 1,743 active cases of COVID-19, down 20 from the 1,763 cases it reported Monday.
Ulster said 59 people were diagnosed with COVID among the most 1,176 who were tested, a “positivity” rate of 5%. That’s a jump from the 3.5% rate reported Monday.
Ulster County has had 13,514 confirmed cases of COVID since the local outbreak began in March 2020, as well as 11,525 recoveries and 246 deaths. No new deaths were reported Tuesday.
Dutchess County on Tuesday reported a sharp spike in the number of active COVID cases, to 1,356 from the 1,178 reported a day earlier.
COVID-related hospitalizations in the county were unchanged at 61, and the number of COVID-related deaths held at 426.
Dutchess County has had 26,680 confirmed cases of COVID since March 2020.
In the schools
Newly reported cases of COVID-19 in area school districts are as follows, according to New York state.
• Kingston: One on-site teacher at George Washington Elementary School, one on-site student at J. Watson Bailey Middle School, two on-site students at Kingston High School, and one off-site student at Robert Graves Elementary School
• Ellenville: Four off-site high school students.
• Highland: Three onsite students at the middle school.
• Marlboro: Two off-site high schoolers, and one offsite middle school student.
• New Paltz: One on-site teacher at Duzine Elementary School, and one onsite student at the middle school.
• Red Hook: One on-site student in the Mill Road School intermediate grades.
• Rondout Valley: One off-site student at Marbletown Elementary School, one off-site student at the high school, and one onsite staff member at the intermediate school.
• Saugerties: Two on-site students at the junior high school.
Also, High Meadow School in Stone Ridge reported one on-site student case.