Putnam Coronavirus Update: Odell Demands More Flexibility

PUTNAM COUNTY, NY — With coronavirus positivity rates continuing to decline in Putnam, County Executive MaryEllen Odell is urging state officials to give local health departments more flexibility to choose who to vaccinate.

Specifically Odell wants the state to add highway department workers to the list of essential workers eligible for vaccines.

She said she is also advocating for a local teacher-only vaccination site (teachers are already eligible as essential workers) in an effort to get schools fully open and students back in classrooms.

"Parents are not only overworked and overwhelmed, they are worried sick about their children falling behind and not succeeding," Odell said in a news statement. "We need to get children back in school, and to do so, we need more vaccine – specifically for teachers. Our county health department could set up a vaccine POD just for teachers and we could have every educator inoculated in no time, if the state would just give us the vaccine and the go-ahead to set up a teachers-only site."

For Week 11 of the vaccine rollout, the county received Monday a shipment of 500 doses. Of those, 200 will be used for those who were due for second doses on Feb. 18 and those scheduled for second doses on Feb. 25; 100 will be administered to those with developmental disabilities, as required by the state; and the remaining 200 will go to essential workers and those with certain underlying medical conditions.

Because of the winter severe storms that wreaked havoc across the country, Putnam County did not receive its shipment of vaccine for the week of Feb. 15, Odell said.

As of Tuesday, 12.3 percent of Putnam's population has had at least one vaccine dose, according to the state's vaccination tracker. The state average is 12.3 percent.

Residents who received their first vaccine from the Putnam County Department of Health on Jan. 21 or 28, should continue to check their email for instructions on scheduling a second dose appointment.

A clinic for first doses of vaccine is being planned for certain essential workers and those with underlying medical conditions on Thursday at the Philipstown Recreation Center. County officials said they will continue to schedule appointments as vaccine arrives.

The registration link will be shared on the health department website and health department social media channels once clinic details are confirmed.

Putnam officials were monitoring 259 active cases as of Friday. The county's coronavirus positivity rate is one of the lowest in the Hudson region, according to state data.