At the beginning of the year, the Columbia County Department of Health stopped reporting daily COVID numbers. In the absence of daily reports, every Thursday afternoon, Matt Murell, chair of the Columbia County Board of Supervisors, will issue a press release on the current COVID situation. What follows is today's press release.
Hospitalizations related to COVID-19 and positive COVID-19 cases remain up, according to the Columbia County Department of Health this morning.
“This week looks a lot like last week, with hospitalizations standing at 18 and one individual in the ICU," said county DOH Director Jack Mabb, who added that positive cases for the first four days this week numbered 69. That pace, should it continue, would bring the county to more than 450 positive cases for the month of January.
“It’s good to maintain an historical perspective on the numbers. The 450 for this month would be one of the highest months we've had in the past six months, yet it compares very favorably to last January when the county had a record-setting 3,000 positives.”
As far as the new variant XBB1.5 goes, Director Mabb said given that the state DOH estimates that currently more than 70 percent of the positive cases here in New York are the new variant, it’s a pretty much a sure thing it’s here in the county. “It doesn’t seem to be driving up our numbers dramatically. But we’ll have to see how it evolves,” he said.
County DOH experienced one of its slowest clinics at A. B. Shaw last Thursday, with but one flu shot given, 16 COVID-19 vaccines, and no monkeypox. Despite the low numbers, the department will continue to offer the various vaccines at A. B. Shaw.
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