THE WORLD READS WHITE PLAINS CITIZENETREPORTER — 8,324,077 VISITS IN ONE YEAR

WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. From Governor Kathleen Hochul’s Press Office. August 25, 2021:

On her first day in office, Governor Kathy Hochul announced a new, comprehensive plan to help ensure a safe, productive return to schools this fall in the midst of rising COVID-19 numbers fueled by the Delta variant. 

As part of this plan, Governor Hochul has directed the New York State Department of Health to institute a universal mask requirement in all schools, public and private, as determined necessary at the discretion of the Commissioner. The Department of Health will issue the requirement through regulatory action established by the Public Health and Health Planning Council.

Governor Hochul will also pursue options to mandate vaccines for school employees or require weekly testing in the absence of vaccines, and will continue to work with the Department of Health, education stakeholders and the Legislature on establishing the mandate.

“As Governor, my priorities are now the priorities of the people of New York – and right now that means fighting the Delta variant,” Governor Hochul said. “My number one priority is getting children back to school and protecting the environment so they can learn safely. I am immediately directing the Department of Health to institute universal masking for anyone entering our schools, and we are launching a Back to School COVID-19 testing program to make testing for students and staff widely available and convenient. We are also working to require vaccinations for all school personnel with an option to test out weekly, and we are going to accomplish all of this by working in partnership with all levels of government.”

To help ensure testing is available to students as they return to school, Governor Hochul is using $335 million in federal funds to launch a new COVID-19 Testing in Schools Program in partnership with local health departments and BOCES in New York State outside of New York City. In addition, New York City has received $225 million directly to initiate a COVID-19 Testing in Schools Program there, for a total of $585 million in federal funding in New York State to support these programs.

Governor Hochul also launched an additional back-to-school COVID-19 testing program in partnership with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Rite Aid and BioReference to make testing more widely available for New York State public school students before the start of the 2021-2022 school year.

TESTING FOR STUDENTS PRIOR TO SCHOOL

Testing appointments will be available to New York students in grades K-12 at the 115 Rite Aid drive-through locations. Students are required to pre-register online and schedule a time slot for testing. Students aged 17 and under must have parental or legal guardian consent and be accompanied by a guardian at time of testing in the drive- through. Digital results will be delivered to parents for students to bring to school. COVID-19 testing is voluntary and will be provided at no cost to the student’s family nor to the school district.

In addition to these new testing programs, New York State has available more than 4.3 million child-sized clothed face masks, about 10 million adult-sized clothed face masks and almost 55 million non-surgical face masks to provide to students and teachers in schools across the state.

State Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker said, “Our highest priority is helping to ensure the health and safety of our students and educators as we work together to combat COVID-19. Since early July, COVID-19 cases in New York have risen 10-fold and 95 percent of sequenced positive cases were confirmed to be Delta variant. Based on incidence and prevalence, our findings demonstrate the necessity of layered prevention strategies, including this mask requirement. While a simple measure of prevention, requiring masks now is crucial for protecting the health of our children and ensuring we can get our students back in their schools this fall.”

Commissioner of Education Dr. Betty A. Rosa said, “Since the onset of the pandemic, the health and safety of our students, teachers, and school personnel has been our top priority. With the increase in COVID variant cases around the state, Governor Hochul’s action, taken after consultation with educators, demonstrates her commitment to the health and wellbeing of our students and the importance of keeping our schools open. The State Education Department supports a consistent application of masking requirements in schools, easing the return to school with a common line of defense against the spread of the COVID variant. I look forward to continuing our collaboration with Governor Hochul in support of our shared focus on expanded educational opportunity for all New Yorkers.”

WPCNR GOVERNOR’S CORONA VIRUS REPORT. From Governor Kathy Hochul press office. August 25, 2021:

Governor Kathy Hochul Tuesday evening updated New Yorkers on the state’s progress combating COVID-19.

“Fighting COVID-19 and the Delta variant is a top priority for this administration, and although we’re implementing new masking requirements to keep everyone safe, vaccination is the key to our future,” Governor Hochul said. “Millions of New Yorkers have taken the vaccine, but far too many remain unvaccinated and that’s why we continue to operate convenient sites across the state. Getting vaccinated helps your family, friends and community, so get your shot today.”

Today’s data is summarized briefly below:

• Test Results Reported – 88,918
• Total Positive – 3,199
• Percent Positive – 3.60%
• 7-Day Average Percent Positive – 3.13%
• Patient Hospitalization – 2,103 (+86)
• Patients Newly Admitted – 265
• Patients in ICU – 416 (+9)
• Patients in ICU with Intubation – 204 (+16)
• Total Discharges – 191,027 (+181)
• New deaths reported by healthcare facilities through HERDS – 11
• Total deaths reported by healthcare facilities through HERDS – 43,415
  • The Health Electronic Response Data System is a NYS DOH data source that collects confirmed daily death data as reported by hospitals, nursing homes and adult care facilities only.

• Total deaths reported to and compiled by the CDC – 55,395
  • This daily COVID-19 provisional death certificate data reported by NYS DOH and NYC to the CDC includes those who died in any location, including hospitals, nursing homes, adult care facilities, at home, in hospice and other settings.

• Total vaccine doses administered – 23,298,566
• Total vaccine doses administered over past 24 hours – 35,937
• Total vaccine doses administered over past 7 days – 329,805
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 18 and older with at least one vaccine dose – 75.8%
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 18 and older with completed vaccine series – 69.0%
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 18 and older with at least one vaccine dose (CDC) – 78.7%
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 18 and older with completed vaccine series (CDC) – 70.7%
• Percent of all New Yorkers with at least one vaccine dose – 63.9%
• Percent of all New Yorkers with completed vaccine series – 57.7%
• Percent of all New Yorkers with at least one vaccine dose (CDC) – 66.3%
• Percent of all New Yorkers with completed vaccine series (CDC) – 59.2%

Each region’s 7-day average percentage of positive test results reported over the last three days is as follows:

Region	Saturday, August 21, 2021	Sunday, August 22, 2021	Monday, August 23, 2021
Capital Region	4.24%	4.20%	4.19%
Central New York	4.55%	4.61%	4.44%
Finger Lakes	4.07%	3.91%	3.86%
Long Island	4.05%	4.01%	3.98%
Mid-Hudson	3.36%	3.49%	3.41%
Mohawk Valley	3.39%	3.71%	3.85%
New York City	2.55%	2.55%	2.52%
North Country	4.23%	4.25%	4.33%
Southern Tier	3.26%	3.23%	3.23%
Western New York	3.47%	3.61%	3.71%
Statewide	3.14%	3.16%	3.13%

Each New York City borough’s 7-day average percentage of positive test results reported over the last three days is as follows:

Borough in NYC	Saturday, August 21, 2021	Sunday, August 22, 2021	Monday, August 23, 2021
Bronx	2.84%	2.91%	3.00%
Kings	2.58%	2.61%	2.61%
New York	2.09%	2.03%	1.98%
Queens	2.65%	2.60%	2.50%
Richmond	3.09%	3.16%	3.17%

Yesterday, 3,199 New Yorkers tested positive for COVID-19 in New York State, bringing the total to 2,226,955. A geographic breakdown is as follows:
  

County	Total Positive	New Positive
Albany	26,319	46
Allegany	3,657	6
Broome	19,597	37
Cattaraugus	5,992	10
Cayuga	6,924	16
Chautauqua	9,406	18
Chemung	8,127	17
Chenango	3,794	10
Clinton	4,992	2
Columbia	4,280	2
Cortland	4,214	6
Delaware	2,612	6
Dutchess	31,452	49
Erie	93,406	96
Essex	1,745	5
Franklin	2,778	6
Fulton	4,704	20
Genesee	5,602	10
Greene	3,609	8
Hamilton	354	3
Herkimer	5,495	17
Jefferson	6,510	23
Lewis	2,932	3
Livingston	4,712	11
Madison	4,816	6
Monroe	72,949	106
Montgomery	4,554	20
Nassau	195,695	294
Niagara	20,799	22
NYC	1,004,363	1,433
Oneida	23,627	35
Onondaga	41,532	39
Ontario	7,789	10
Orange	51,347	67
Orleans	3,264	7
Oswego	8,189	16
Otsego	3,731	8
Putnam	11,185	9
Rensselaer	12,121	22
Rockland	48,808	41
Saratoga	16,844	39
Schenectady	14,169	20
Schoharie	1,838	5
Schuyler	1,128	1
Seneca	2,127	2
St. Lawrence	7,213	27
Steuben	7,248	12
Suffolk	213,121	312
Sullivan	7,175	7
Tioga	4,024	2
Tompkins	4,807	7
Ulster	14,980	32
Warren	4,087	7
Washington	3,382	7
Wayne	6,182	8
Westchester	135,746	146
Wyoming	3,676	3
Yates	1,226	0

Yesterday, 11 New Yorkers died due to COVID-19. A geographic breakdown by county of residence of new deaths reported by healthcare facilities through HERDS is as follows:

County	New Deaths
Bronx	2
Chenango	1
Greene	1
Kings	1
Onondaga	1
Otsego	1
Rensselaer	1
Saratoga	1
Washington	1
Wayne	1

All New York State mass vaccination sites are open to eligible New Yorkers for walk-in vaccination on a first-come, first-serve basis. People who would prefer to schedule an appointment at a state-run mass vaccination site can do so on the Am I Eligible App or by calling 1-833-NYS-4-VAX. People may also contact their local health department, pharmacy, doctor or hospital to schedule appointments where vaccines are available, or visit vaccines.gov to find information on vaccine appointments near them.

Yesterday, 20,657 New Yorkers received their first vaccine dose, and 16,499 completed their vaccine series. A geographic breakdown of New Yorkers who have been vaccinated by region is as follows:

	People with at least one vaccine dose	People with complete vaccine series
Region	Cumulative Total	Increase over past 24 hours	Cumulative Total	Increase over past 24 hours
Capital Region	714,647	1,015	658,781	873
Central New York	560,014	645	521,863	500
Finger Lakes	723,222	1,028	677,169	770
Long Island	1,711,623	4,625	1,526,266	3,543
Mid-Hudson	1,355,002	3,531	1,206,505	2,510
Mohawk Valley	278,730	316	258,186	268
New York City	6,023,602	7,729	5,358,756	6,649
North Country	258,520	288	235,373	217
Southern Tier	370,705	444	344,101	414
Western New York	786,674	1,036	726,727	755
Statewide	12,782,739	20,657	11,513,727	16,499

The COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker Dashboard is available to update New Yorkers on the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine. The New York State Department of Health requires vaccinating facilities to report all COVID-19 vaccine administration data within 24 hours; the vaccine administration data on the dashboard is updated daily to reflect the most up-to-date metrics in the state’s vaccination effort. New York State Department of Health-reported data from NYSIIS and CIR differs slightly from federally-reported data, which is inclusive of federally-administered doses and other minor differences. Both numbers are included in the release above.