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County surpasses 200 virus-related deaths

Eight new COVID-related deaths were reported for the week of Oct. 10 to the 16th, marking 200 to date during the pandemic, the county Health Department announced Wednesday.

The county also recorded 236 new confirmed cases of the virus during the week. That’s the fewest new cases over a seven-day span since Aug. 21.

As of Oct. 16 there were 255 active cases, 25 people with the virus in the hospital and 506 in quarantine. There have been 12,843 confirmed cases to date and 12,388 recoveries.

Since Aug. 1 there have been 3,409 new cases in the county. Of those, 52% have involved people not vaccinated, 14% fully vaccinated, 6% partially vaccinated and 28% whose vaccination status was not known.

According the state’s vaccine tracker, 65.5% of the county’s population over the age of 12 have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine while 59.9% have been fully vaccinated.

Across New York state, 4,668 cases of the virus were recorded Tuesday. There were also 269 people admitted to hospitals with 473 people in total currently in intensive care.

“New Yorkers have fought long and hard against the COVID-19 pandemic, and although I know life is returning to normal for many vaccinated people, we can’t get complacent and forget that there are thousands of new infections every single day,” Gov. Hochul said in her daily update. “We have the vaccine and can defeat this virus, but our success depends on getting more shots in arms. I’m urging everyone who’s eligible to get their vaccine right away to protect their communities and end the threat of COVID-19.”

OUTBREAK AT WARREN JAIL

COVID-19 cases in the Warren County Jail continue to rise. About 60% of the inmates — in addition to 13 staff — have tested positive for the virus. That was part of an update given by Warden Jon Collins to the Prison Board during a meeting in Warren County this week.

“COVID is in there,” he said. “We all anticipated it. (I) just didn’t think it would hit as hard as it did as quickly as it did.”

Collins explained an additional seven positive tests came back on Monday, bringing the total to 14 female inmates, 46 male inmates and 13 staff.

“We have no housing units in the green,” he said, which would indicate normal operations, though one is planned to return to that status in a few days.

Collins said one inmate was taken to the hospital and returned to the jail on oxygen and placed in an isolation cell for two days. “He got a lot better quick,” he said, telling the board that another may be put on oxygen.

“We’re not being hit as bad as what we could be.”

Josh Cotton in Warren contributed to this story.

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