County, state see increasing COVID cases

SCHUYLER COUNTY--County Administrator Tim O'Hearn gave an update to the legislature about the status of COVID-19 in the county during the meeting Monday, Aug. 9. Three new cases were reported by Schuyler County Public Health during the Monday update, as New York joins most other states in seeing an increasing number of cases.
"COVID is by no means going away, this is a pandemic of the unvaccinated...vaccines are the answer... the more who get vaccinated the less this becomes," said O'Hearn.
With the rise of the Delta variant, a highly contagious mutated version of COVID-19, local interest in getting vaccinated appears on the rise.
"The Johnson and Johnson vaccine is the most in-demand...more people are changing their minds about getting vaccinated," O'Hearn said.
Going forward O'Hearn said the county health department will continue its vaccine outreach attempts in an attempt to get local vaccination numbers up.
The legislature also passed a resolution calling on Gov. Andrew Cuomo to either resign or be impeached in light of recent sexual harassment accusations revealed in an investigation conducted by the State Attorney General's office.
"It's crazy, it's time for him to go," said Legislator Gary Gray.
With the recent NASCAR race at Watkins Glen International in the rearview mirror, O'Hearn said the event sold out with roughly 100,000 visitors.
"It went smoothly, was well run and a huge success," O'Hearn commented, adding, "(WGI) did a good job responsibly running the event... It was a great race."
As to how positive of an impact the race had on the local economy O'Hearn it would be a couple of weeks at least before numbers start to come in. For the whole of the summer, O'Hearn expressed cautious optimism and said that sales tax numbers have been very positive and represent an increase over the previous two years.
The legislature also passed the Schuyler County Social Host Law, which specifically prohibits "any person age eighteen (18) or over who owns, rents, or otherwise controls private premises, to knowingly host, permit or allow a social gathering at which he or she allows the consumption of alcoholic beverages, marijuana and/or illegal drugs by any minor on such premises..."