Staff care for a new arrival to the University of Vermont Medical Center Intensive Care Unit (ICU) on Thursday, Dec. 2, 2021. For months, more and more patients with acute health conditions had landed in the ICU and a second COVID-19 surge was stretching capacity. Where a typical acute patient might spend a week or less in the ICU, COVID-19 patients can take up a bed for a month or more. (Photo courtesy of UVM Health Network)

SARANAC LAKE — Local health departments have reported more than 500 new COVID-19 cases since Thursday.

The Clinton County Health Department additionally posted that one coronavirus-related fatality had occurred, bringing the death toll in the county to 58.

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By the numbers

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CCHD shared that 258 new cases were detected since Thursday. As of Tuesday, 331 residents were in isolation and an additional 420 were in quarantine.

Essex County Health Department, which typically posts updates on Mondays and Thursdays, said Monday that 107 new cases had emerged over the weekend.

Franklin County Public Health posted 160 new cases from Friday through Tuesday, when the active total was 193.

Two of those were Bare Hill Correctional Facility inmates, and a total of 422 county residents were in isolation or quarantine.

From Dec. 21 through Tuesday, the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe’s Emergency Operations Center and Health Services reported that 55 new cases had emerged in the southern portion of Akwesasne.

The agencies said 48 active cases remained under the tribe’s jurisdiction, and 33 were in quarantine. Two tribal members were hospitalized, but no longer considered active cases due to the amount of time they have spent under the hospital’s care.

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Hospital leaders speak

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University of Vermont Health Network, Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital Sr. Marketing and Communications Specialist Chris Blake said, as of Tuesday, there were 18 COVID-positive patients in the Plattsburgh facility, six of whom were in the intensive care unit.

In an open letter posted in the North Country Chamber of Commerce’s Today’s Dose newsletter Tuesday, UVM Health Network leaders wrote that emergency rooms were packed and ICUs were nearing capacity, and pleaded with residents to get vaccinated.

“If you have not received your COVID-19 vaccines, you are putting yourself, your loved ones, your friends, your neighbors and your health care workers at risk,” they wrote.

The officials estimated that about 75% of patients treated in the network’s ICUs for COVID-related illnesses are unvaccinated, and said it was frustrating to know that vaccination is the best hope of ending the crisis.

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‘May save your life’

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They acknowledged vaccination is not a silver bullet against COVID infections, but added that it is the best protection against severe cases and the best way to stay out of the hospital or ICU.

“Keeping you out of the hospital means we have more beds available if someone else has a heart attack, gets into a major car accident or needs emergency surgery,” they said.

“It means reducing the pressure on our regional health care system and giving our workforce the relief they deserve. It also may save your life.”

They urged those who are not vaccinated to get their shots, those who are to get their boosters and those who know someone who is not vaccinated to help them get vaccinated.

The leaders also pushed precautions, regardless of vaccination status, including wearing a mask, cleaning your hands, getting tested when necessary, social distancing and not socializing when ill.

Information on where to get vaccinated can be found at www.vaccines.gov.

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New testing sites

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Gov. Kathy Hochul recently announced 13 new state testing sites will be opening this week, including two in the North Country.

One of those will be at the Maple Ridge Center in Lowville, while Franklin County will be partnering with the state and Citizen Advocates to offer the other at the former Nickels Redemption Center at 201 West Main St. in Malone.

The Malone site is slated to offer testing from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, beginning with appointments this Thursday. Register at tinyurl.com/2p89juvz.

The governor’s office also announced a pop-up Pfizer-Biontech vaccination event to be hosted at Clinton Community College today from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The site will be open for first and second dose appointments for New Yorkers five years and older and booster dose appointments for New Yorkers 16 years and older, according to a press release.

Walk-in appointments are available, but appointments can also be scheduled in-advance at tinyurl.com/54nxvb9d.