Coronavirus Update: December 10, 2020

Tompkins County held another COVID-19 town hall last night to speak to the community and take questions. There, county leaders talked about the coronavirus vaccine and handling nursing home outbreaks, reports the Ithaca Times. 

Public Health Director Frank Kruppa says the Southern Tier will be getting 4,500 doses of the Pfizer vaccine sometime this week. They will be given to healthcare workers and long-term care residents first. 

4,500 doses is not enough to provide the vaccine to all healthcare workers in the region. Over the next few weeks, health officials will devise a more concrete plan for distributing more vaccines to other residents.  

Kruppa says that the vaccines might not be 100% effective for everyone. Regardless, it will make the disease less likely to spread as quickly by jumping from person to person. 

Health director Kruppa also spoke to the recent nursing home outbreaks, noting that the nature of nursing homes makes it easy for the virus to spread. He adds that there are a lot of restrictions in place like regular testing and limiting visits. 

Most of the recent rise in COVID-19 cases have been from people traveling for Thanksgiving. Public Health Director Kruppa urges residents to stay home for the upcoming winter holidays. 

Looking at the local COVID-19 caseload, the latest numbers as of the time of this broadcast were released yesterday from the Tompkins County health department. There are 26 additional positives, 22 new recoveries, and 10 hospitalizations. According to the County Health Department, that leaves 291 active cases of COVID-19 in Tompkins.

In Schuyler County, there are 6 new cases of COVID-19 reported as of today, leaving 35 active cases. One more person has been hospitalized, bringing the total number to 4 according to their Health Department.