Governor Cuomo Continues To Skip Dutchess County As A NY State Partner Vaccination Site - Why That Matters
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Dutchess County entered 2021 by opening 3 county-run vaccination centers dubbed as PODs, which is in addition to any privately run locations at pharmacies or grocery stores. The locations are at the former JC Penney at the Poughkeepsie Galleria Mall, the former CVS, 3081 Route 22, Dover, and at Dutchess County Behavioral and Community Health - Mental Health Campus.
Why JC Penney? The retailer had filed for bankruptcy at the end of 2020 due in part to the pandemic shutdown, and has since emerged with new owners, possibly saving 60,000 jobs of the 85,000 jobs lost. The space inside of the mall with plenty of parking and public transportation drop-offs was available.
The only way to know about these locations in order to make an appointment at them is to follow Dutchess County announcements and local news. Why? Because the Dutchess County locations are not included in New York State’s Vaccine Hotline or Website to book an appointment. Only sites that Governor Cuomo designates as “Partner” sites are included in that very popular, state-wide website.
Beaconites like Joe Robitaille, owner of Homespun was eligible in late February for his vaccination, and used New York State’s website to book the only appointment he could. “The staff and I were sitting here looking at the website, clicking Refresh and appointments were just going, going, going right before our eyes. Finally we just clicked on anything, and I got Plattsburgh, NY.” That location is in the northern most part of New York State, near Vermont and Canada.
In early March, a location in Binghamton opened, and he switched appointments. “I'm off to Binghamton today to get my first vaccine shot! Got my appointment switched. So excited,” he told ALBB. Joe used the New York State website, and said he wasn’t aware of JC Penney location operated by Dutchess County.
Another local Beaconite was helping her dad, age 70, book his appointment back in February. “He called the New York State hotline. He didn’t use internet—at 70, I think the phone was less stressful than Internet. He got the appointment for April in Binghamton.” But the family wasn’t satisfied. They wanted an appointment sooner, and possibly closer. “We decided he should just call every day,” the resident continued to ALBB. “One day he called and they said they couldn’t really tell him details but they’d heard that Tops in New Paltz had appointments, and he called them, and got an appointment for 3 days later! He gets his second shot this Friday!”
When ALBB asked if her dad knew about the JC Penney location, the resident answered: “I don’t think it was an option he was given.”
Dutchess County’s Vaccination Plea To New York State To Add As A State Location
The entrance to the JC Penney COVID-19 Vaccination Site, run by Dutchess County.
Photo Credit: Katie Hellmuth Martin
On February 19, 2021, Dutchess County Executive Marcus Molinaro wrote to Governor Cuomo, the letter of which was shared with media, which requested that the JC Penney vaccination POD site be added as an official New York State Partner vaccination site.
County Executive Molinaro stated in the letter: “I respectfully request New York State partner with Dutchess County Government to create a joint vaccination site at this current Poughkeepsie location. Due to the lack of supply given to our county, local residents must travel more than an hour to the nearest State-operated mass vaccination site, located at the Westchester County Center or SUNY Albany, and most cannot obtain an appointment in the next several months at either of those sites.”
Individuals can still get vaccinations at the JC Penney location - and any county-run location - but the option to book an appointment are not listed in the New York State website, which is what Governor Cuomo refers to daily when encouraging people to sign up for their vaccinations. Other locations are available in this region, including at pharmacies, but those are not included in the NY State appointment website.
New York State’s Incomplete Vaccination Appointment Website
Should all vaccination sites be located in a central website for New York State? Dutchess County Executive Marcus Molinaro and the CDC believe that they should. Says Colleen Pillus, Communication Director for the County Executive Office told ALBB: “The County Executive has been openly advocating for a clear picture of where all vaccine is allocated and a centralized place to schedule appointments at any vaccine provider.”
With Governor Cuomo’s consistent display of data aggregation across multiple web pages in New York State’s COVID section of the website, as he tracks patterns of the virus to display to the public, it is not clear why the vaccine locations across the state are not included in that portal. From a website build standpoint, that build-out is not difficult using Google Map tool at the very least. Local design firms nation-wide have already built some for their communities (including my own website design firm for a company producing an antibody test to display various locations in CVS drug stores).
Additionally, when the COVID-19 tests rolled out across multiple private locations, Dutchess County was not designated as an official testing center by New York State. The omission of Dutchess County from New York State’s test center location finder website added time and confusion to the testing process.
When a person called the New York State testing hotline, as Governor Cuomo told people to do daily when he was marketing how easy it was to get tested, the closest location Dutchess County residents was the parking lot at the Bear Mountain Bridge. Despite multiple Dutchess County run testing centers in operation, like the one at Dutchess Stadium just up the road for Beaconites. ALBB reported on the confusion of testing locations and insurance early on.
“Vaccination Czar,” Impeachment Issue, and County Access To Doses
This location-with-benefits logic is now repeating itself for vaccination locations. And is part of why County Executives were so shaken up when New York State’s “Vaccination Czar,” Larry Schwartz, called County Executives across the state asking them for the support of Governor Cuomo during his current impeachment consideration, which is based in part on megalomaniac tendencies and political bullying.
Dutchess County Marcus Molinaro, who is president of the New York State County Executives Association, told NPR in a report on the multiple phonecalls: “[Molinaro] says in the eyes of these local officials, Schwartz's calls were troubling and that after receiving the calls, 3 to 4 executives contacted him or his staff to express their concern and disgust. Here is Molinaro. ’That these calls would be made at all was troubling. That they were made by the individual responsible for, really, with a great deal of discretion, distribution of vaccines was extremely disturbing to them.’”
Dutchess County Executive’s Response To Omission Of Dutchess County Vaccination Locations In NY State Website
The empty parking lot at JC Penney, the location of a Dutchess County run vaccination site that New York State continues to not grant partnership benefits to.
Photo Credit: Katie Hellmuth Martin
Despite Dutchess County Executive Marcus Molinaro’s repeated request to have the JC Penney POD be a “Partner” location by New York State, Governor Cuomo has not granted this designation. Though he has been adding partner locations regularly, and announced 2 in the Hudson Valley recently: one in Ulster County and in New Palz, which Governor Cuomo says, are not ready for the public yet. Dutchess County’s however, is already open and operational.
Despite New York State officials visiting Dutchess County’s JC Penney vaccination location prior to it opening and declaring it ready for scale, Governor Cuomo won’t make the partnership. "County Executive Molinaro has been advocating for the JCPenney location to be a mass vaccination site for several months,” said Colleen to ALBB. “In fact,” she continued, “as noted in his letter [to Governor Cuomo on 2/19/2021], officials from the Governor’s Office were on site at JCPenney when we first opened in January and noted how the capacity was certainly there to be expanded."
County Executive Molinaro pointed out in his 2/19/2021 letter to Governor Cuomo: “Though Dutchess County’s current 185,000-square-foot site in Poughkeepsie, inside the former JCPenney store at the Poughkeepsie Galleria, currently vaccinates fewer than 1,000 essential workers and seniors each week, due the limited number of doses we receive from New York State, our DBCH staff has the capability and space at the site to inoculate five times that number.”
Governor Cuomo Relevance To Dutchess County Executive Molinaro
Dutchess County Executive Marcus Molinaro ran against Governor Cuomo in the last election for governor, and was defeated. Actress Cynthia Nixon from Sex and the City was also running. Governor Cuomo refers to County Executive Molinaro as “some county executive who ran against me” in a press conference delivered on February 19, 2021, the same day the letter was sent, after Governor Cuomo encouraged people to check with their counties for individual sign-up locations, emphasizing that New York State was opening state-run sites in “socially vulnerable communities.”
Governor Cuomo has been pressured by Republicans and a growing number of New York State politicians about the nursing home issue, which questions how the Governor designated nursing home deaths (if the person died at the hospital, but was a resident in a nursing home, then it did not count as a nursing home death in figures released by New York State). That questioning has erupted into a broader discussion of how Governor Cuomo works with - or doesn’t - other politicians running different parts or departments of the state, including his staff. The question of bullying and megalomaniac power tenancies have been questioned.
Governor Cuomo’s dismissive statement was made while the Governor was being questioned by the media about the nursing home issue, as he attempted to discredit critical voices. You can read the full transcript of the February 19th, 2021 press conference here. The Governor has since denied taking questions from the media during a later press conference, as the investigation into him begins, and impeachment is discussed.
“Socially Vulnerable" Communities In Poughkeepsie, Beacon and the Hudson Valley
In terms of “socially vulnerable” communities being the reason for the lack of New York State partnership with Dutchess County, there are plenty of people in Dutchess County who have lost jobs, were already in a lower income bracket, or don’t have a car.
Said County Executive Molinaro in his letter to Governor Cuomo: “[The people who book an appointment] are the lucky ones – residents who have personal transportation and can travel at a moment’s notice, should a much-coveted appointment open up for them. Residents in our underserved communities, who rely on public transportation to take them to appointments to receive this life-saving vaccination, cannot readily travel an hour or more to the State’s sites; they can, however, travel to our Poughkeepsie site, which is easily accessible by Dutchess County Public Transit.”
Public transportation from Beacon regularly circulates to the Poughkeepsie Galleria Mall, including the G-Line, which is the pretty blue bus line introduced as a partnership with Beacon, Poughkeepsie and Dutchess County last year.
How To Add Yourself To Dutchess County’s More Convenient Vaccination Location List
Dutchess County has a web page that shows what their allocation was of vaccinations for the week, as well as a signup form to sign up once, and wait to be called for an appointment at a Dutchess County location. Other locations, such as pharmacies, are listed there as well for convenience.
As for the number of allocation doses since the County Executive’s letter, Communication Director for Dutchess County Colleen Pillus confirmed to ALBB on 3/17/2021: “Vaccine doses have increased statewide (and decreased) over the past several weeks as more vaccine become available from the federal level. Overall, vaccine allotment is up from what we been receiving in Jan/Feb, but last week’s allocation was lower than the previous week’s allocation.”
Dutchess County makes weekly updates to many vaccination sites on their vaccination web page, including pharmacies and hospital facilities. Do check this page weekly if you are in pursuit of a vaccination shot for yourself or a family member, as you may find a dose at a nearby location to you in Beacon, Fishkill, or other communities.
Volunteers who are pursuing and booking vaccination appoints on behalf of those who are too challenged in technology or physical condition to do it themselves have been making a big difference to connect people with doses. Read ALBB’s interview with a Vaccination Appointment Whisperer, Heidi Harrison, to learn her tips and tricks.
