County Executive Pat Ryan speaks with Rosendale Town Supervisor Jeanne Walsh at a vaccine clinic yesterday at the Rosendale Youth Center.
A few months ago getting a Covid-19 shot was like getting into Studio 54 in 1977. Now, it’s like getting a good parking spot at the Hudson Valley Mall in 2021.
The drop in demand among residents has led Ulster County to decrease its request of vaccine doses for the first time since they became available in late December. This week the county received 2170 doses, down from a little over 3000 last week.
Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan said this was “not a good sign” and would mean a delay in the county reaching herd immunity. Currently, 51.3 percent of the population has received at least one dose. Herd immunity, which is the rate at which transmission of a virus is drastically curtailed, is debated for SARS-CoV-2, but the county is pegging it at about 80 percent.
Ryan framed the call for residents to get vaccinated as a duty to one’s fellow citizens.
“Everybody needs to step up and do their part,” he said. “To me, I take the concept of duty and responsibility — especially with my former military hat on — very seriously. And I think it’s everybody’s duty and responsibility as citizens and residents who care about their neighbors to get vaccinated.”
He acknowledged that getting vaccinated is “not everybody is fully comfortable with,” but said those with concerns can take confidence in the knowledge that medical experts are monitoring the risks and so far they are “very, very low.”
Caseload falls
Quite a drop
As we reported Monday, the county saw a 40 percent drop in its active case total over the weekend. This was attributed at the time to “clearing out a backlog.” Ryan said yesterday that the county contacts previously diagnosed residents over the phone to find out if they’re symptom-free, which can create a lag in data reporting. The drop in active cases from 1083 on Sunday, April 25 to 610 yesterday, April 27, actually took place over about a week.
Nevertheless, the most recent number should be taken as accurate, and that is good news, said Ryan.
Other numbers not so rosy
Five more county residents died in the last week, bring the total 254. In addition, 18 are hospitalized with severe cases of Covid-19, and 3 are in the intensive-care unit.
Where to get vaccinated in Ulster County
Appointments can be made at the following locations. Walk-ins are also welcome.
- 4/28: Harold Lipton Community Center in Accord, Moderna 1st dose, 200 appointments
- 4/29: Gardiner Town Hall, Moderna 1st dose, 200 appointments
- 4/30: Best Buy Location at the Hudson Valley Mall, Moderna 1st dose, 1400 appointments
- 5/3: Best Buy Location at the Hudson Valley Mall, Moderna 1st dose, 2000 appointments
Appointments are available to receive the Pfizer vaccine at the state-run site at the Ulster County Fairgrounds in New Paltz. Currently, those 60 and older don’t need an appointment. Starting tomorrow, that will be the case for all residents 16 and up.
Appointments can also be made through a number of local pharmacies.
Need transportation? County buses will offer free rides to vaccination centers on its fixed routes. It will also accommodate those over the age of 60 and those with disabilities with curb-to-curb transportation. All rides must be reserved in advance by calling (845) 334-8120 between the hours of 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday at least one day before your vaccination, and on the Friday before a Monday appointment.
So……I only care about my neighbor if I stick a needle in my arm? Wow……so your vaccine wont work unless I get one? Nah…I am gonna pass on this one….seems pretty shady
Nothing you say makes any sense.
You ever get a flu shot?
What he’s saying, is that the 51% of us who ARE VACCINATED will still have 49% of you who are not vaccinated…which means not everything will open up, you stand to lose your job or get sick…etc…
and the even bigger issue is that Covid is mutating, and the more unvaccinated people there are the
greater the odds that a stronger, more deadly variant will hit the community.
Aside from your garbage attitude…what ARE you afraid of? Are you Q Anon or just a scared person?
Do yourself a favor – get your damn shot.
I, and everyone I know had literally zero side effects.
Again……your shot wont work unless I get one? If you are vaccinated, why are you worried if I have not? Lets face it, you are really worried about my well being……lets face the facts….and answer the question….because no one on your side of the argument can answer the question….only deflect.
You think only QAnons don’t want to take the “vaccine”? Hilarious!
The jab isn’t a traditional vaccine. Actually it’s not a vaccine at all. Mrna technology has been used in HIV and cancer research for a while (people who are often dying and desperate) but never as a “vaccine,” where it’s injected into healthy people in hopes of preventing the old and sick from becoming infected. The “vaccine” is also “leaky” which means you can still get infected and shed the virus to others. It also hasn’t been FDA approved, only approved for emergency use. That means you are the trial (trials conclude in January 2023, I believe). And because it’s a biologic and not medicine, the pharmaceutical companies aren’t liable for any injuries or deaths. Bill Gates doesn’t want to share his patents (his foundation partially funded Moderna’s research), so developing countries can expedite vaccine production. I suspect a profit motive here.
Stop with the propaganda and study the probabilities. Old and compromised people should get it; the young probably don’t need it. Can a young healthy person get covid and die from it? Possible but highly improbable. Do we know the long term side effects? No we don’t and won’t for a while.
I understand that over 3million people world wide have died from it. That’s horrible, but divide the world’s population – 7.9billion – by 3.1million and you get .04%.
I’m not anti-vax and I’ll be first in line to take the “damn shot” once it’s fully approved by the FDA. Until then, no bully will get me to do otherwise or shame me for thinking critically. America once was a free country ya know.
The problem is there is no study regarding long term issues. They developed this so fast and now expect everyone to get it.. By the way what happened to the hippa law? That just goes by the wayside? And I bet most if those people wanting everyone vaccinated are the same ones who say my body my choice when it comes to abortion. My choice!!!
Thank you….well said.
“Your vaccine won’t work unless I get one?” No, your vaccine doesn’t work at all. Besides not being a vaccine of anything, it’s not a covid vaccine. You can take 2 now and another in 6 months, and then one every year until you die, and it still won’t prevent you from getting covid, or any other disease. Why would you think it did? It says right on the consent form that it doesn’t prevent you from getting covid. Doesn’t it?
It has a marketing campaign that is the same as for the “flu vaccine,” which also doesn’t prevent you from getting the flu (and CDC admits every year that oops we missed again and it didn’t prevent any flu virus illnesses… again.) The crazy spin says that it won’t prevent it but it will keep you from getting seriously ill and dying. That’s great marketing to sell a shot that never works every single year. The problem is the most people are starting to realize that the healthy people who end up in the hospital desperately ill with flu are always the ones who just took the flu shot.
With covid shots, they are now saying that whatever its benefit might be (which is not clear,) it might last 6 months. So… looks like you got played. What exactly will last 6 months? You will have to wait and see what happens at the end of this global science experiment upon (un-informed consent) humans. SPOILER ALERT: The animals died in the animal trials at NIH under Fauci 15 years ago. That’s why they never got to the human trials. Till now. Thank you for volunteering. You can stop now.
I am so glad to see that people are finally waking up to the propaganda machine, this whole thing had nonsense written over it from the start!
Well, it looks like we are all reading and watching entirely different sets of facts about Covid-19 and vaccines. Since that’s the case, I am not sure if arguing makes any sense. Each side thinks the other side is crazy, ignorant, outrageous, misguided, have their head in the sand, etc.. This is due to us taking in information that has been politicized and polarized long before it gets to us. We sound just like an Alex Jones vs Michael Moore match, if you know what I mean.
I think it would be much better for us to use spaces like this to share the sources from which we found our facts. Doing so would reveal that the problem lies in where we regularly seek information. At this point we exist in entirely different universes of facts. And of course we each think our facts are the correct ones.
On this topic, I wish you all good fortune. I know you are not stupid, nor am I.