For the last time, Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon took to a podium and to Facebook live to deliver his COVID Community update Thursday. He focused on vaccinations. So far, 65% of people in the county have received at least one dose of vaccine, with 78% of those over age 18. A breakdown by age groups, paints a clearer picture.
“In our younger demographics that haven’t been eligible as long, we’ve still got room for improvement. But our 60-plus (residents), to be over 80% shows you why we’re seeing less cases and less hospitalizations in those demographics.”
McMahon credits the vaccine for opening up our economy and social life. The county is working with doctors and pediatricians to get more kids vaccinated. He notes teens are only under 50% vaccinated. And he has a message for 20-somethings, who are also behind.
“Our 20-year-olds, look, the delta variant, it’s going to be the variant (most prevalent) in the country, in short order. We’ll eventually get it here. So, our 20-29 crowd, go live your life, have a lot of fun, but go get a shot.”
Rural areas and some city zip codes are also low in vaccination rates, where the county will focus efforts. A team has been working at Centro and next Friday, July 9th , there will a clinic at Tucker Missionary Baptist. On suspending the briefings, McMahon says there’s work to do in other areas, but he’ll certainly be keeping an eye on COVID developments.
