The Peru Gazette

We need every New Yorker vaccinated, and that includes young people and students. Indeed, the 18- to 24-year-old population has a higher COVID positivity rate, and many of them are in colleges and universities. So it makes all the sense in the world to use these schools as an additional base for the vaccine. To that end, New York State will provide a dedicated initial allocation of 35,000 vaccine doses to address the college student population at SUNY schools and private colleges. These direct allocations will allow these institutions to vaccinate thousands of students before the school year ends, helping us stamp out COVID even faster. I encourage all colleges to participate in this, and I urge college students to get vaccinated at the earliest opportunity.

Photo of the Day: Kiara Arias, a senior at Stony Brook University, urged fellow students to get vaccinated at an event on Long Island today (Photo by Kevin P. Coughlin)

1. The State Department of Health issued guidance to allow graduation and commencement ceremonies to take place with limited capacity. These ceremonies are important and we hope schools have graduation ceremonies—we just want them to be safe. Effective May 1, indoor and outdoor graduation and commencement ceremonies will be allowed with limited capacity, depending on the event size and the location (e.g., stadium, arena, arts and entertainment venue). Additional safety protocols must be in place. Read more.

2. COVID hospitalizations rose slightly to 4,118. Of the 131,436 tests reported yesterday, 4,926, or 3.75 percent, were positive. The 7-day average positivity rate was 3.20 percent. There were 860 patients in ICU yesterday, down 17 from the previous day. Of them, 571 are intubated. Sadly, we lost 58 New Yorkers to the virus.

3. As of 11am this morning, 37.9 percent of New Yorkers have completed at least one vaccine dose. Over the past 24 hours, 174,822 total doses have been administered. To date, New York has administered 12,033,813 total doses with 24.9 percent of New Yorkers completing their vaccine series. See data by region and county on the State’s Vaccine Tracker: ny.gov/vaccinetracker.

4. In the third round of the program, Nourish NY has so far spent $6.5 million to help New Yorkers in need. Over five million pounds of raw milk has been turned into dairy products and distributed by food banks, along with over 1,500,000 pounds of produce. Over four million households in need have received products sourced from New York farms.

Tonight’s “Deep Breath Moment”: A retired teacher from Oklahoma is not letting the pandemic take away one of her favorite traditions: dressing for church. La Verne Ford Wimberly has been known in her community for the bright and beautiful clothes and hats she wears on Sunday to church. “Zoom church” did not stop her. When the pandemic began, and many traded business attire for sweatpants, Wimberly kept on dressing to the nines. After every virtual service, she posts photos of her outfits on Facebook, inspiring friends and strangers alike.

Ever Upward,

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo