Frontline healthcare workers, funeral home employees, emergency service workers, and congregate care employees and residents have all started to receive the vaccine in Onondaga County. Next week, the county will begin inoculating all other health workers and those who are administering the vaccine.
County Executive Ryan McMahon said the vaccine registration and location information is only going to these groups of people. He knows many people are anxious to get the vaccine, but there needs to be order.
“Nobody can just show up. You can’t show up and say I work in this or not,” said McMahon. “We know who we are supposed to be vaccinating. We know who the EMS folks are. We know this. So don’t try to pull a fast one. We’ll get to everyone. We want to vaccinate 460,000 people in this county.”
McMahon said Onondaga County is not falling behind on vaccine distribution, and they are vaccinating hundreds of people per day. He anticipates more distribution centers and increased staffing as phases begin to include more broad groups of people.
“You’ll be talking about thousands of vaccinations a day, not hundreds. The State is going to determine the who. So, they’re telling us who, giving us the vaccine, and we’ll get to work,” said McMahon.
As people across the county, state and country wait for their turn to get the vaccine, the threat of holiday gatherings persists. McMahon said the county is finally recovering from the Halloween and Thanksgiving surges, but that could all be erased if people gather during Christmas and New Years
“I don’t know what’s going to happen. We’re going to find out what’s going to happen,” said McMahon. “But if we have a surge in Christmas, all the progress we made in hospitalizations is going away. And then if we have a New Year’s surge on top of that, we’re asking for trouble.”
Ten more people died of the virus on Wednesday according to county data. McMahon said hospitals are stressed and any further increase in cases could push them past their limits. Health officials are urging people to celebrate the new year at home with the people they live with to minimize spread.
