The Latest Vaccine Tips – Positive Test Rate Drops Below 3%

The Latest Vaccine Tips – Positive Test Rate Drops Below 3%

Vaccine Update: Governor Andrew Cuomo announced yesterday that 2,206,988 New Yorkers have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine. And 1,126,128 have received both doses. That’s a total of 3,333,116 doses administered to date or 89% of the 3,743,810 doses received by the state. New York City has received 44.5% of the doses. Forty percent of the state’s population resides in the city, New York’s Mid-Hudson Region has received 353,475 doses and has administered 284,830 doses or 81% of its supply. However, New York has only received 213,860 or 60% of their Week 10 allocation, according to the Governor’s website. No announcements have been made by Westchester County about Week 11 allocations.

Positive Test Rate Drops Below 3%

On Sunday, New York’s Positive Test Rate dropped to 2.9% – the lowest rate since November 23. The 7-day average was 3.44%, down from 3.9% one week ago.  New York State’s positivity rate peaked at 49.9% on March 30 and was as low as .09% on September 18. It wasn’t until November 5th that it returned to as high as 2%.

New York’s Mid-Hudson region, which includes Westchester County, had a positive test rate of 4.18% last week, the third highest of the ten New York Regions. Westchester’s rate was 3.94%. New York’s City’s rate was the highest at 4.4% and Long Island was second at 4.31%. New York’s Southern Tier, which includes counties west of the Catskill Mountains and bordering on Pennsylvania, had the lowest rate at .6%. Central New York at 1.24% and the Capital Region at 1.9% joined the Southern Tier with positive test rates below 2%.

Nationally, the 7-day rolling average positive test rate dropped to 4.8% last week. It’s fall winter peak was 13.7% earlier in January, according to the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine’s Coronavirus Resource Center. The US positive test rate peaked at 21.9% in the spring and bottomed at 4.1% in June and 4% in October.

The Latest Vaccine Tips

Despite the announcement of new vaccine allocations for Westchester County that we reported last week, neither Northern Westchester Hospital or any of the New York State vaccination centers currently have any new appointments available. This may or may not be related to last week’s allocation shortfall. But with new allocations coming in at 300,000 per week, there’s hope and it is worthwhile to keep checking. In addition to NWH and the state sites, local pharmacies including many Walgreen stores began receiving doses two weeks ago. Here’s some tips to remember.

The Westchester County Department of Health (all categories eligible)

The state-run site at the Westchester County Center, which is prioritizing all eligible populations under Phase 1a and 1b as well as immunocompromised* populations under 65, remains your best bet to get an appointment for a vaccine. While we have not been able to track the percentage of vaccines allocated for state-run sites versus those allocated to local distribution centers, we believe that number could be very high.** Check for appointments at the New York State site, and check the New York State hotline for cancellations: 833-NYS-4-VAX.

Westchester County Health Department (prioritizes essential workers)

The Westchester County Health Department received approximately 46% of the county’s vaccine allocation last week. (Not including the state-run site at the County Center.) They offer an alert system. However, they prioritize essential workers over age eligible county residents.

Northern Westchester Hospital (not authorized for the immunocomprised under 65)

Northern Westchester Hospital in Mt. Kisco received the county’s second largest allocation last week with almost 13% of the total doses. They are prioritizing all populations outlined in the New York State Guidelines under Phase 1 and 1b, which includes health care workers, essential workers and populations aged 65+. They are not currently authorized to vaccinate immunocompromised individuals under age 65 in the expanded eligibility group that was released on February 15. Here’s the link you can use to check for appointment availability at Northern Westchester Hospital,

Local Pharmacies

Local pharmacies received 33% of Westchester County’s Week 10 vaccine allocation last week however the total allocation of 1300 doses was distributed to thirteen different pharmacies, including six Walgreens, most located in COVID-spike areas such as Port Chester, Yonkers, New Rochelle, Peekskill and Ossining. Further complicating matters is that the Week 10 pharmacy allocation list differed substantially from the Week 9 list. The pharmacies prioritize the age 65+ population. Full Week 10 allocation chart.

Westchester Residents Who Work in NYC

Finally, if you work in New York City and can prove it you can check the NYC Vaccine Finder to schedule an appointment, assuming you can find one.

• Qualifying Co-morbidities: cancer, obesity, hypertension and other heart conditions, pulmonary disease, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, pregnancy, sickle cell disease, intellectual and developmental disabilities, and an immunocompromised state because of HIV and other causes.
• New York State receives approximately 300,000 doses per week or 1,200,000 per month. Westchester’s population is approximated 5% of the state population. Westchester County’s non-state vaccine distribution system received 3,900 doses of the vaccine last week or 15,560 on a month-adjusted basis. You can do the math from here.