pandemic Archives - The Gloversville Leader Herald

05 Dec

Thruway Authority begins process for 2024 toll hike proposal

LH Staff0 CommentsEmail Newsletter, Fulton County, Local News, Montgomery Countyinfrastructure, Joanne Mahoney, Matt Driscoll, New York State Thruway Authority, pandemic

By Tyler A. McNeil/The Leaader-Herald ALBANY — The New York State Thruway Authority formally launched the year-long process of gathering public feedback on a proposed 2024 toll increase before putting it up for a final vote. NYSTA officials at a Monday board meeting pushed forward the first step in upping the fee for E-ZPass users 5% and 75% for tolls by mail. The hike proposal, which would be the first systemwide adjustment in 14 years, has faced blowback from lawmakers since the agenda was released last week. “This is safety,” said NYSTA Board of Directors Chairwoman Joanne Mahoney during the…

15 Mar

Comptroller blasts state DOH over nursing home COVID response

John Cropley0 CommentsLocal NewsAndrew Cuomo, COVID-19, nursing home deaths, pandemic, state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, state Department of Health

ALBANY — The state Comptroller’s Office on Tuesday released an audit highly critical of the state Department of Health and its response to nursing homes amid the COVID pandemic. Among the key findings were that DOH: Was ill-prepared to respond to infectious diseases even before the pandemic hit New York in March 2020; Became part of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s deliberate under-reporting of the terrible death toll in nursing homes; Stalled on a federal directive to survey nursing homes for infection control problems; Knew one of its key informational systems was incomplete and unreliable long before the pandemic but took no…

11 Jan

Hochul makes big push to vaccinate young children

John Cropley0 CommentsLocal NewsCOVID-19, Gov. Kathy Hochul, New York State Department of Health, pandemic, vaccination

ALBANY — The state is increasing its efforts to get vaccines into the arms of the largest unvaccinated group of New Yorkers: young children.As of Tuesday morning, just 22% of children ages 5-11 in New York state are fully vaccinated. That compares with 65.5% of children ages 12-17 and 93.6% for the most heavily vaccinated group, adults ages 65-74.The rate of full vaccination for all ages across the state is 72.6%.The vaccine has been authorized for children ages 5-11 for only about two months, accounting for some of the disparity — adults had access for all of 2021 and older…

10 Jan

COVID hospitalization rises in New York, but not as sharply as case count

John Cropley0 CommentsHomepage, Local NewsCapital Region, COVID-19, Mohawk Valley, pandemic

ALBANY — New York surpassed 12,000 people hospitalized with COVID, and with 55,000 new infections confirmed on what is typically the slowest day of the week for lab results, the hospital census is likely to go higher.But state Department of Health data released Monday also contain some bright spots: A much smaller percentage of COVID-infected people are winding up in the hospital so far this winter than in last winter's surge. The number of hospitalizations on Sunday was 42% higher than Jan 9, 2021, but the number of new positive tests in the first nine days of this year was 371% higher.Also,…

05 Jan

Legislators, hospitals lobby Hochul for resources to run state testing site at FMCC

Andrew Waite0 CommentsLocal NewsCOVID-19, FMCC, Fulton County, Fulton Montgomery Community College, Hochul, Montgomery County, pandemic, SUNY

As COVID-19 cases surge across the state — including in Fulton and Montgomery counties — Fulton-Montgomery Community College is ready to ramp up its COVID-19 testing operations.All the college needs in order to once again host a high-volume, state-run testing site is Gov. Kathy Hochul’s approval to send testing kits and manpower, according to Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara, D-Rotterdam. He, along with Assemblyman Robert Smullen, R,C,I,SAM-Meco, has been lobbying the governor to ramp up the Johnstown testing site into a full-blown community testing location.Santabarbara and Smullen said the need for more community testing was brought to their attention by Fulton and Montgomery…

30 Dec

Half-million-plus new COVID infections in N.Y. in two weeks

John Cropley1 CommentLocal News, New York NewsCOVID-19, New York State Department of Health, pandemic, testing, vaccine

ALBANY — More than a half-million new COVID infections in New Yorkers have been confirmed by lab tests in the last two weeks, along with an unknown additional number of positive self-administered tests.The state Department of Health on Thursday reported 74,207 infections confirmed Wednesday, yet another one-day record for the state during the 22-month pandemic.Meanwhile, the number of COVID-positive patients in New York hospitals jumped 9% from Tuesday to Wednesday, surpassing 7,300.The huge late-December spike remains concentrated in New York City and its three closest suburban counties. The eight-county area is home to about 61% of the state's population and…