Simpson: get the vaxx. G.F. Hospital awaits guidance.

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Editor's note: This story has been updated. The original story begins below the horizontal line.

Update Dec. 7, 10:55 a.m.: Glens Falls Hospital and Saratoga Hospitals will be required to limit procedures beginning Thursday Dec. 9, according to a directive posted by the New York State Department of Health. Albany Medical Center and a total of 32 hospitals are on the DOH list.

A statement from the DOH on Friday Dec. 3 established what they called a framework to react to the surge in COVID spread.

"The State is pursuing a coordinated, collaborative approach to ensure hospital capacity meets regional needs while maintaining the long-term resiliency of the State’s healthcare infrastructure," the DOH wrote in Friday's statement. The statement Friday also says that COVID infection rates are as bad as they were last April.

The framework established on Dec. 3 says that hospitals will be monitored weekly and will be required to continue to report relevant data daily. Beginning the week of Monday Dec. 13, weekly data will be collected and analyzed by the state. DOH will notify impacted facilities on Fridays if more limitations are to take affect take affect the following Thursday.

The Executive Order, under which the framework was built, will also enable New York State to acquire more quickly any critical supplies to combat the pandemic, the Dec. 3 guidance says. 

The New York State Department of Health considers the Capital Region to be a region at risk due to the surge in COVID-19 hospitalizations. The region may include Warren County. 

At Glens Falls Hospital, Ray Agnew, the vice president for community engagement, wrote in an email today that the hospital is awaiting specific guidance from the state Department of Health. They may receive it at some point today, if the hospital is included in the region, Agnew wrote. 

The guidance could include limiting some procedures, but Agnew wrote that many procedures will continue (see below). The limitations will begin Thursday Dec. 9 if they occur. This comes after the hospital and other healthcare leaders released a statement last week warning of the dire threat that the COVID surge is causing, and that the hospital was nearing capacity. 

The statement from the hospital, Hudson Headwaters Health Network, and the Irongate Family Practice of Glens Falls warned: “More people are dying, more people are ill, Glens Falls Hospital is past capacity, the Emergency Department is seeing more people than ever before and they are sicker, and this is before the Holiday Season even gets under way.”

Health officials say the number of cases in Warren County is actually higher now than at the height of the pandemic last year. 

"Warren County continues to see some of the highest COVID-19 infection rates in New York state, both in terms of COVID-19 test positivity and per capita infections," Warren County health officials wrote in their update earlier today. "Health Services is monitoring 550 active COVID cases as of Monday [Dec. 6], 529 of them involving mild illness."

Beds are at about 90% capacity, Agnew wrote.

“The data the state has for us is a snapshot in time from Thanksgiving Day to Wednesday, December 1,” he wrote. “It will show that we are at or greater than 90% of total staffed bed capacity during that period.” 

He cautioned that the number is not a pure measure of bed space, but of bed space, people to staff the beds and how flexible the hospital is at staffing more if needed.

As part of the reaction to the surge, Assembly member Matt Simpson (R-Horicon) released a statement today asking that people get vaccinated or get the booster vaccination if they are eligible.

“As we continue to see COVID-19 cases rise in Warren County and the North Country, I want to reiterate my support for residents getting the vaccine. I received the two-dose vaccine series last spring and just got my booster shot two weeks ago,” Simpson wrote in the statement.

In an interview, Simpson said he is hoping to turn people away from the partisanship and misinformation found on social media.

"Maybe that [statement] will help people block out all the stuff they're reading on Facebook, Twitter and just go speak to their doctor,” Simpson said of his statement. He said that after nearly two years of the pandemic, “everybody is feeling tired, fatigued." He said there needs to be more empathy, compassion in the discussions around issues like these.

Dr. Robert Reeves of Irongate Family Practice, wrote in last week’s warning that unvaccinated adults are 11 times more likely to die from COVID 19 than vaccinated adults. 

According to Agnew, the state specified on Friday that care in the following areas would continue even if other restrictions are necessary:

  • Cancer including diagnostic procedures
  • Neurosurgery
  • Intractable pain
  • Highly symptomatic patients
  • Transplants
  • Trauma
  • Cardiac with symptoms
  • Limb threatening vascular procedures
  • Dialysis vascular access
  • Patients that are at clinically high risk of harm if their procedures are not completed

Warren County Health Services has reopened the vaccination clinic at the Aviation Mall.

The office will hold the following free COVID-19 vaccination booster/first dose clinics  in the coming days, with registration required through online links posted at https://warrencountyny.gov/covidhub/ unless otherwise noted. Find details here about booster eligibility: https://covid19vaccine.health.ny.gov/booster-doses.

The plan as outlined on Dec. 6:

  • Tuesday, December 7, Warren County Municipal Center, 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., Moderna, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson first doses and booster doses. (Registration full for booster doses)
  • Tuesday, December 14, Warren County Municipal Center, 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., Moderna, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson first doses and booster doses. (Registration not yet open)
  • Tuesday, December 21 Warren County Municipal Center, 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., Moderna, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson first doses and booster doses. (Registration not yet open)