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(WBNG) -- Broome County Executive Jason Garnar is expected to hold a coronavirus briefing Wednesday afternoon.
The state COVID-19 mass vaccination site at the former Gannett Printing building in Johnson City had adelayed opening Tuesday due to the snowstorm.
The number of active cases in Broome County dropped significantly in the past week. According to theBroome County COVID-19 Trackeron Jan. 27, there were 1,439 active cases, and as of Feb. 2, there are 885. Active cases have dropped by nearly 600 in one week.
According to theNew York State COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker,the Southern Tier has received 67,835 total doses (1st and 2nd), administered 53,481 total doses (1st and 2nd), and has administered/received 79% doses (1st and 2nd).
The Broome County rapid testing site is located atMacArthur Parkuntil Sunday, Feb. 7, and is open from 1 to 7 p.m.
The conference will be held at 3 p.m. Wednesday.
Tune in to 12 News tonight at 5, 5:30, and 6 p.m. for the latest and check our website for updates.
If they receive both doses, watch and read educational materials and submit a form for approval, they could shorten their sentence, the Department of Corrections said in a memo.The incentive is made possible by a Massachusetts law, which states that prisoners are "eligible to earn deductions from sentences and completion credits, collectively known as good conduct deductions, for participation in and completion of programs and activities" outlined in the law.That's what Department of Correction Commissioner Carol A. Mici described as "earned good time" (EGT) in a January 28 memo addressed to inmates/patients.Prisoners who complete the required steps are eligible for a total of seven and a half days of EGT, according to the memo.
"I have determined that receiving the vaccine is significantly valuable to rehabilitation and will therefore be offering Earned Good Time," Mici wrote.
Prisons remain hot spots for Covid-19
As of January 28, when the memo was sent out, over 3,500 DOC inmates had received the vaccine, Mici wrote.
Prisons have been hot spots for virus infection from the early days of the pandemic.
Virginia also offers incentives to prisoners
Massachusetts is not the only state to offer incentives to prisoners eligible for vaccination.
Incentives besides EGT in Massachusetts have not been announced.
Top Stories
Oregon Health Authority: There aren't yet enough doses for all who want it
PORTLAND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Starting next Monday, Oregonians age 80 and older can begin receiving the COVID-19 vaccine -- but as it ramps up distribution, the Oregon Health Authority warned Wednesday that there will be more seniors wanting the shot than doses now available.
"The Oregon Health Authority is committed to getting all older Oregonians vaccinated," the agency said late Wednesday, but added: "There will be more seniors who want to get vaccinated than there will be vaccines available to them."
Here's the rest of the OHA's initial information:
When will you be eligible?
Everyone 65 and older will be eligible for vaccine by the end of February. Here are dates that each age group becomes eligible for the vaccine:
Next week, OHA said it will launch a new toolthatwill allow people to determine if they are eligible for a vaccine and register to get email alerts or text notifications about vaccine events in their area.
The tool will be open to all Oregonians, and information will be available in 11 languages.We will provide information about how to access the tool in Coronavirus Update after it goes live.
In the meantime, Oregonians can:
Coronavirus / Government-politics / News / Oregon-Northwest
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Long Beach has so far distributed more than 44,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, and the majority of them have gone to older, White residents on the citys east side, where rates of the virus are the lowest.
One of the reasons for the inequity is that fact that people over 65 have been prioritized because they are more likely to fall ill and die from the virus, even though they contract COVID at lower rates. And in Long Beach, residents on the east side tend to be White and older.
Frontline health workers, police and firefighters were in the first eligible groups, followed by those over 65. Newly eligible groups are teachers and food workers.
Demographic information on vaccination rates, presented Tuesday during a City Council meeting, mirrors whats happening elsewhere in the country.
Health officials are struggling to reach communities of color and densely populated areas where the virus has been most rampant.
Although vaccination programs are in the initial stagescities and counties everywhere have struggled to get vaccine suppliesearly data show that those who live in areas where cases are the highest are not getting the vaccine.
Nationwide, 17 states that are releasing data by race and ethnicity show similar disparities. The share of vaccinations among Black people is smaller than their share of cases in 16 of the states, and smaller than their share of deaths in 15 states, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, which is tracking the data.
California is not yet reporting data by racial and ethnic groups, nor is Los Angeles County. State and county health officials said they hope to release that information next week.
We remain concerned that we will see, as we have seen with distribution of other health resources, a difference in race and geography, Barbara Ferrer, director of the county Department of Public Health, said Wednesday at a media briefing.
Ferrer said the areas of prioritization have been adults over 65, as this group accounts for roughly 60% of all deaths from COVID-19. Protecting people with a high risk of contracting the virus, such as food workers, is also a priority.
We are trying to protect the most vulnerable with the goal of reducing mortality, she said. It means understanding who is most likely to die.
In Long Beach, rates of COVID are starkly divided between east and west. The case rate for the Wrigley-area ZIP code 90806, for example, is 137 per 1,000 residents; in the Belmont Shore ZIP code of 90803, the rate is less than half that, at 53 per 1,000 residents.
Yet, Belmont Shore has one of the highest vaccination rates at 48 per 1,000 people, while the Wrigley vaccination rate is 29.7 per 1,000 people.
North Long Beach, meanwhile, has the highest disparity in cases-to-vaccinations, with 131 people per 1,000 contracting the virus, versus 47.1 people receiving the vaccine.
The same disparity can be seen when the numbers are broken down by race.
White people have a much higher vaccination rate compared to people of color, receiving nearly half of all first doses at more than 14,000.
White people have the lowest case rate at 33 cases per 1,000, but account for the highest vaccination rate at 114 per 1,000 people.
In contrast, Hispanic or Latinos account for the highest case rate at 85.5 per 1,000 residents, but have the lowest vaccination rate of 32.5 per 1,000. Overall, Latinos account for the largest racial group in the city at more than 40% of the population.
Long Beach Health Department Director Kelly Colopy on Tuesday said the racial and neighborhood inequities in vaccine rollout are reflective of the population, noting that about 55% of residents age 65 and over are White and live in the eastern part of the city. Long Beachs residents of color tend to be a younger population and live in more denser areas of the city.
Nonetheless, she said the city data shows concerning disparities in vaccine distribution and that the city is working on a number of efforts to focus on equity.
We know we have work to do, she said.
Colopy said disparities are complicated by layers of race, poverty and access. Many people in the inner city may not have access to transportation to vaccine sites or internet access to sign up for vaccine notifications. Many of the citys Latino residents are immigrants who may be mistrustful of the vaccine or government involvement.
The city in the coming weeks will work on outreach with five local nonprofit groups to target high-risk communities using census tract data that shows neighborhoods with the highest rate of COVID cases, she said.
The effort will include mobile vaccination clinics in neighborhoods and information campaigns in Spanish, Khmer and Tagalog.
Other numbers released Tuesday:
As more residents nationwide begin to receive their first, and even second, dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, distribution of the game-changing vaccination is slowly expanding in San Diego.
Since first receiving doses of Modernas and Pfizer-BioNTechs vaccines, San Diego County has administered more than 300,000 doses of the shots. County-run sites, vaccination super stations and small clinics have all been tapped to serve as vaccine centers and more doses are being shipped to different locations in the city.
Mayor Todd Gloria announced the city was authorized to receive shipments of the vaccines and was given 1,200 doses. Currently, health care workers, long-term facility staff and residents, and individuals ages 65 or older qualify for the vaccine.
Under that guidance, eligible government employees were soon given the shots and the mayor said 100 doses would be given to qualifying homeless individuals who have been living in the shelter at the San Diego Convention Center.
In April 2020, with events being canceled and stay-at-home orders taking place, Americas Finest City turned the iconic convention center into a shelter for the citys homeless population as part of its Operation Shelter to Home program. Last month, the San Diego City Council unanimously voted to extend the initiative through March.
Gloria said local leaders are working to identify city-owned locations that could potentially serve as future vaccine sites. He added that the city will announce when residents could have more access to the vaccines, but that decision will be made based on eligibility and availability.
A Bankers Hill senior living facility held a festive, football-themed event as residents were given the COVID-19 vaccine. NBC 7s Audra Stafford speaks to residents who were given the shot.
SDSU said its formal request to administer COVID-19 vaccines to eligible members of its campus community was recently approved by the State of California, the university announced on Tuesday.
Three hundred Moderna vaccine doses arrived at the campus this week, allowing the university to administer the shots to faculty, staff, students and campus community members who fall within the currently eligible categories.
Those who qualify for the vaccination will be invited via phone call or email to sign up for an appointment with Student Health Services (SHS). Beginning Thursday, the center will administer the COVID-19 vaccine to eligible residents who have a confirmed appointment.
The shots will be administered at the Calpulli Center, according to SDSU.
UC San Diego was also cleared to administer the vaccine to its eligible community, it announced Tuesday.
Beginning Monday, UCSD Health patients and university staff, faculty and its community members who are qualified to receive the vaccine will be able to get it on the universitys main campus. Vaccinations will be administered at the Recreation, Intramural and Athletic Complex (RIMAC) seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The university said both Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines will be used at its new site, depending on available supplies.
Eligible residents will get invitations to schedule an appointment for the vaccination.
Driver Glenn Blackburn assists Joseph Barry, 83, into a transport van after Barry received the first Moderna COVID-19 vaccine during an appointment at Oak Street Health on Feb. 2, 2021, in Chicago. The medical clinic offers senior citizen patients rides to make it easier for them to receive COVID-19 vaccinations. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)
Pfizer and Moderna Phase III vaccine trials had a combined 70,000 participants, and under rollout efforts, more than 27 million Americans have had at least one dose.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. As health officials scramble to get vaccines into arms as quickly as possible, they are also still facing a healthy dose of vaccine hesitancy.
"Occasionally, I'll get some patient who'll say, 'I don't want to be a guinea pig and be the first one to get it,'" Dr. David Priest, an infectious disease specialist with Novant Health, said.
Some people have noted that these reservations come from the vaccines' quick development.
However, doctors assure that years of science helped lay the groundwork for these vaccines, and thousands of people helped test them.
According to Food and Drug Administration briefing documents on the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, Pfizer's Phase III trial had roughly 40,000 participants. Moderna's had approximately 30,000.
"They were the same size as we would typically do, even if a vaccine was on a not-accelerated path," Dr. Tony Moody, a professor of pediatrics with the Duke Human Vaccine Institute, said.
According to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention outline of how a new vaccine is developed and approved, vaccine trial sizes grow with each subsequent phase, with Phase I trials usually enlisting dozens of participants, Phase II trials getting hundreds and Phase III trials tapping hundreds or thousands of people to volunteer.
"No steps were skipped," Priest said. "All the usual regulatory things were there. They just had all the resources, a common enemy, and a lot of people to help develop the vaccine more quickly."
So what does Priest tells his patients who fear being a "guinea pig" if they get the vaccine?
"I say, 'That horse has left the barn. You can't be a guinea pig now because millions of people have gotten the vaccine the world over,'" said Priest.
Wednesday, the CDC said at least 27 million people in the U.S had received at least one dose of the vaccine already -- more than 6 million have gotten both doses.
