The State of the Pandemic in NY and Dutchess County
As COVID-19 still looms in NY, Gov. Hochul announces vaccine initiative targeting youth
As the COVID-19 delta variant drives a surge in both cases and hospitalizations in New York State, primarily among the unvaccinated, state officials are taking steps to increase the vaccination rate and address the root causes of vaccine hesitancy.
In an effort to increase the vaccination rate among school-aged children in New York, Governor Kathy Hochul announced on September 8 a new New York State campaign titled #VaxtoSchool. This digital education effort aims to educate individuals aged 12-17 and their families on the vaccine through providing interactive information and engaging content on the importance of COVID-19 vaccination.
With almost 12 million New Yorkers, or 62% of the population, fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as of September 14, New York State ranks eighth in the United States in percentage of fully vaccinated citizens. While a large percentage of New Yorker adults are vaccinated against coronavirus, the vaccination rate for children aged 12-17 lags behind.
Hochul hopes this digital marketing campaign will further inform and educate New York State families about the vaccine. In a recent press conference Governor Hochul said, “New York's young people are less likely to get seriously ill from COVID-19, but they can still spread the virus, and we need them to take it seriously. The new, innovative #VaxtoSchool social media campaign will help us get the word out to New York's young people about the vital importance of getting vaccinated to keep friends, families and communities safe."
As a part of this initiative, the governor also announced the state will be offering #VaxtoSchool pop-up vaccination sites for adolescents in areas where the 12-17 vaccination rate is less than the national average. Additionally, NY will be launching #VaxtoSchool busses — mobile vaccine sites — to make vaccination more accessible to school-aged children in the state.
In her presentation on the eighth, Hochul added that she hopes for federal approval of the Pfizer booster shots by September 20th. It currently appears Moderna may take a little longer to earn approval for its booster shot. Meanwhile, there is no timeline for a booster shot for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Hochul emphasized that pop-up sites will be vitally important in booster shot rollout in the coming months. Hochul said, “Also, pop-up sites. We know this works. It's not always about the mass vaccination sites, not always about drive-thrus. It's about targeted approaches to go right into neighborhoods and communities.”
As of Hochul’s latest coronavirus report, there are 2,500 daily hospitalizations of New Yorkers with coronavirus, and an average of over 4,000 covid cases and 30 deaths per day since the beginning of September.
According to the Dutchess County COVID-19 dashboard, Dutchess County has 57.93% of its population fully vaccinated, or over 170,000 individuals with a completed vaccine series. The dashboard also shows a steady rise in active COVID-19 cases over the last few weeks, and as of September 14th, there are 724 active COVID-19 cases in Dutchess County. Additionally, there have been ten deaths and 46 hospitalizations related to COVID-19 so far in the month of September in Dutchess County.
Compared to the rest of the state, Dutchess County ranks 27th out of 57 counties for its overall vaccination rate.
As delta variant cases surge, public health and government officials are aiming to vaccinate those still unvaccinated. "Syringe and bottle with blue fluid and Coronavirus Vaccine text on white background" by wuestenigel is licensed under CC BY 2.0