It’s not a number we’re used to, but the death count in Rockland has climbed 11 since the last report yesterday for a total of 727 since the pandemic began, that’s 28 this month alone. This as the COVID vaccine from Pearl River-based Pfizer and BioNTech was first administered in New York Monday morning at Long Island Jewish Medical Center. At his daily press briefing yesterday, governor Andrew Cuomo said 75 to 85 percent of the population needs to get vaccinated for it to be effective…
Phase one of the vaccine distribution is going to high-risk hospital workers, nursing home residents and staff. Those will be followed by long-term and congregate care residents and staff, EMS and other health care workers. Phase two is other essential workers and members of the general population who are at the highest risk. Moderna’s vaccine is expected to be approved later this week.
COVID-19 by the numbers now, here in Rockland, we’ve got 84 in the hospital confirmed with coronavirus, and a total of 2,193 active cases. The state says since the crisis began, we’ve had a total of 24,183 reported cases, 503 more than Monday.