SARATOGA SPRINGS — A mass vaccine city site. A central online county information site. The creation of and the funding of a COVID Response support staff. 

Amid the rapid flux of ever-evolving information related to COVID-19 and to vaccinations, the city and the county made strides this week to provide accessible information to the public as well as solidify plans for the dispensing of vaccines – in preparation for that time when vaccines become more readily available.    

First up, the Saratoga Springs City Center was this week approved as a mass COVID-19 vaccine site. The county lease of the site will immediately kick in when “sufficient vaccine doses” are delivered to the county by the state. That sufficient quantity determination will be made by newly appointed county Health Commissioner, Dr. Daniel Kuhle. 

“In general, we are notified about 24 hours before we receive vaccines about how many we can expect to get,” says Tara Gaston, Saratoga Springs city Supervisor and newly named as chair of the county’s Health and Social Services Committee. “I don’t anticipate that it’s going to be thousands within the next couple of weeks, but the goal is to be ready if that happens. Under the current state guidance, once we have the vaccines, we must use them within seven days. We have to be ready and able to move as quickly as possible.”     

The Saratoga County Board of Supervisors unanimously agreed to the resolution regarding the City Center, which was introduced by Gaston. 

“The idea is that it will be in the main hall. We have to work out the layout, but I envision temperature stations before people come in. Then you come in, check in at the table, get your shot and then you have to wait your 15 minutes or half-hour depending on whether you have allergies or not,” said Ryan McMahon, executive director and president at the City Center. 

“It’s a month-to-month lease where they can turn it on for a month, turn it off for a month. I don’t think anyone thinks we’re going to (immediately) get enough vaccines next week. Part of this is the county’s ability to prepare. This way they can come in, we can set the room up, establish how they want it, get lines running for their computers and get all the infrastructure ready so that if they find out, say, on a Friday night they’re getting the vaccines, then we can be open on Saturday morning,” McMahon said. “We know how to move people through a space, particularly this space very well, so we’re going to advise and collaborate on a plan about how to physically do it, but it’s their show.”      

The lease of the space at the City Center was authorized at a cost up to just over $49,000 per month. “We want to help in any way we can. In a normal year I would just eat the cost of this, but right now we can’t take on an additional expense. We have shut down operations for the most part - we don’t even have the HVAC systems on, and we’re barely surviving,” said McMahon, explaining the incremental cost to the county is to get everything back up and running, from the HVAC systems to the cleaning staff –  whom were laid off. 

A second resolution introduced by Gaston – also receiving unanimous support by the county Board of Supervisors will see the creation of temporary COVID Response Support Personnel, and a COVID Response Coordinator, who will assist the public health department in response to the pandemic. Those positions will earn a base salary of $22/hour and $25/hour, respectively, and will be filled “as needed.”  The county set aside approximately $183,000 from its fund balance to fulfill those wage needs.    

The county will also be upgrading its COVID-19 web dashboard to use state data methodology, in a mission to be less confusing and more accessible. The county recently adjusted the main page of its website to provide immediate access to COVID-related information.   

“This is a change. Any information we get is going to be on the front page of our website in a red box, and it will change as we get more information,” Gaston said. The page includes official links to vaccination registrations, finding current test sites and other COVID-19 resources for individuals and families.  The site may be accessed at: www.saratogacountyny.gov. 

As of this week, nearly 3.5% of the county’s approximate 230,000 county residents had tested positive for COVID-19 since the start of the epidemic, and about 6.5% of the population has been at least partially vaccinated. 

“In the city of Saratoga Springs, we have 540 active cases,” city Public Safety Commissioner Robin Dalton told the council at its Jan. 19 meeting. “The good news is the 7-day rolling average for positivity rates has dropped (in the county) from 11.3% to 8.8% - which is terrific. However, our hospitalizations have almost doubled in the last ten days; currently we have 106 people hospitalized as opposed to 51 ten days ago. This is representative of the lagging nature of these metrics, of when people get sick and then when they need to get hospitalized.” 

In the greater eight-county Capital Region of which Saratoga is a part, hospitalizations – with 553 COVID patients - hit an all-time high, and 91 of those patients are in the ICU. New York State is separated into 10 different regions, and the Capital Region has the fewest percentage of hospital beds (25%) and ICU beds (19%) available of all regions statewide, according to the NYS DOH.    

“There are not nearly enough vaccines to get as many people vaccinated as we want to,” Dalton added. “We get a tiny amount every week and I know people are frustrated getting access to appointments and having to travel very far – to Plattsburg and Utica. We know that and we are working on it. This is an imperfect system.” 

Gaston expressed similar frustration. “New York State has provided directives to anyone who has access to vaccinate individuals. That tells us who we are allowed to vaccinate; just because you have been deemed eligible by the state does not mean that you can get vaccinated at your health department, or at a pharmacy,” Gaston said. 

“Medical workers are required to be vaccinated by hospitals. Seniors are required to be vaccinated by pharmacies. And our local health department – Saratoga County Public Health Services - can only vaccinate people who fall into a number of essential worker groups that includes police, fire, teachers, front-facing grocery store workers. If you are a senior and you want a vaccine from our local public health services – we cannot do this at this time.” 

Deviating from the governor’s directives can result in severe fines and penalties, Gaston added. “We are working as a county and with other counties to change this – to allow us to use those plans to keep people as safe as possible as quickly as possible, and I think it’s important people know we share the frustration. We all have to be patient but unfortunately we are restricted by these mandates which are not reflective of the long-standing work the public health department has done in the area of vaccinations.” 

In addition to the naming of the Saratoga Springs City Center as a mass vaccination site, more than one dozen other smaller, unnamed venues have been evaluated and approved for providing vaccinations across the county and Gaston said among the county’s other coordinated plans - “going into homes, going into shelters, delivering vaccines directly to seniors” – are pending the governor’s lifting of existing directives prohibiting those plans from being enacted.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Eagerly awaiting a package in the mail? Patience please, says the United States Postal Service. 

An unprecedented increase in volume combined with limited employee availability due to the impacts of COVID-19 have resulted in the current environment across the country. 

“We’re still working through a great deal of volume, and like our neighbors everywhere, a tremendous impact related to COVID. When you put those factors together you do have what people are experiencing, which can be delays. And we’re working on that,” says Maureen Marion, USPS spokesperson for the Capital Region. 

“In the Saratoga-Capital Region we certainly mirror the trends of the nation,” Marion says. Where volume is concerned, factors have included robust e-commerce activity during the holiday shopping season, a bump-up related to packages being returned post-holiday season, and people moving more packages in general rather than tending to needs in-store as they had done in the past, due to potential COVID concerns.   

“I think people might be surprised in the volume related just to returns, which is larger (today) due to a new generation of shoppers who shop online,” Marion says, explaining that it is not uncommon for people to purchase multiple versions or sizes of products because returning items is an easily acceptable practice. 

“People ordering things online because they couldn’t get things in their stores, or they wouldn’t go to the local stores. The home has become the dressing room and returns have become increasingly a bigger and bigger ticket item, particularly this time of year,” she says. Looking back to last spring, “by St. Patrick’s Day 2020 we were running at 40% more packages, easily. We were doing Christmas week volume for packages - and that’s significant because ‘package’ delivery is a little bit different tempo than ‘letter’ mail.   

“Let’s drive through the mean streets of Saratoga: if I’m typically delivering mail a couple of years ago, I’m delivering to mailboxes at the end of your driveway and dropping off letters – boom, boom, boom. It’s labor intensive, but it’s quick. With the packages, I have to stop the truck, open the door, lock the door. I have to unlock the truck, get the package and re-lock the truck. Then I have to walk up the driveway, leave the package, go back to the truck, unlock my door, turn on the vehicle and go,” Marion says. “It takes a couple of minutes, but a couple of minutes times a hundred locations is two-and-a-half hours.”

COVID-19 has also had an effect on workers and policies. More than 600,000 USPS employees process, transport, and deliver mail and packages across the country. And the service reaches 160 million addresses every day, according to the American Postal Workers Union. It is a service that is vital, delivering everything from medications to Social Security checks, and it is the leading delivery service for online purchases, according to the organization. 

Last spring, the USPS dedicated a COVID-19 Command Response leadership team to focus on employee and customer safety in conjunction with operational and business continuity during the pandemic. The protocols included mask-wearing, social distancing and updating cleaning policies in the workplace, expanding the use of telework for employees able to perform their jobs remotely, and maintaining steady communications regarding postal facility disruptions that may impact delivery via its USPS Service Alerts webpage. Those may be viewed at: about.usps.com/newsroom/service-alerts. 

“At this juncture what you are seeing is staff impact related to COVID that takes on several different layers. We have approximately 7,800 active COVID illnesses nationwide; We have individuals who are then quarantined because of close contact in the workplace to those specific active COVID exposures, and employees who are quarantined due to exposure in their own families or other places outside of work,” Marion says.     

COVID has also impacted some USPS offices both large and small, which have had to alter hours, as well as affecting processing plants and distribution centers. CDC recommendations suggest postal workers be vaccinated alongside teachers and those over the age of 75 in the Phase 1b vaccination process. It does not appear, thus far, that those recommendations have been included in N.Y. State’s 1B plans.

“In New York State this week there were 496 active COVID cases – window clerks, postmasters, people who work in the processing plants, drivers… everybody,” she says.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — The New York Racing Association this week received approval from the New York State Franchise Oversight Board to proceed with improvements on the Oklahoma Training Track in advance of the anticipated 2021 racing season. 

The Oklahoma project cost is approximately $1 million and follows discussions with Saratoga-based trainers. The upgrades will include a new base, improved drainage, a width expansion of the track where possible, and a plan for new safety railings – which specifically accounts for about $350,000 of that estimated $1 million cost. Members of the Franchise Oversight Board said they are working with Saratoga preservationists related to the width expansion of the track, as the project will likely impact existing pine trees that were planted alongside the track in the mid-1980s. 

The Oklahoma Training Track signals the start of “spring training,” in advance of the summer racing meet at the main track located across the street at Union Avenue. It typically opens in April, although in the pandemic-affected year of 2020, a delayed opening pushed the opening to the first week of June. Last year’s summer meet was held without fans in attendance.   

The training track has not had any significant renovation in 40 years. The project was approved as part of NYRA’s overall capital expense plan during a meeting of the Franchise Oversight Board held via teleconference.  The 50-minute meeting may be heard in its entirety at: www.budget.ny.gov/boards/fob/index.html

SARATOGA SPRINGS — In this city, the guitars have all gone silent. Matt McCabe has passed away, COVID-19 taking from the city one of its most endearing souls. 

“June 14, 1994. Flag Day. I started in a little 160 square-foot hole-in-the-wall space on Caroline Street,” he recalled with a smile, on a weekday afternoon 25 years later, celebrating a quarter-century in this city. 

“That was my first real business venture. I opened with 48 used guitars and 10 used amplifiers. There was a lot going on and I’ll never forget it.” It was a week when he had watched his beloved New York Rangers hockey team win their first Stanley Cup championship in 54 years, and experienced the buzz among all the other storefronts on Caroline Street as O.J. Simpson slinked in the back seat of a white Ford Bronco, leading a low-speed chase by police through Southern California.

A quarter-century later, he had opened a number of Saratoga Guitar shops, where he sold new, used, and vintage instruments, a plethora of accessories, sheet music, vinyl records, and conducted instrument repairs. For a generation he hosted The Capital Region Guitar Show – which became one of the longest running guitar shows in the country - drawing dealers, musicians and fans from across the northeast to the Spa City. On occasion, he made the time to take to the stage – “playing and singing with whoever will have me, me and my guitar compadres.” 

The shop served as a musician’s meeting place, and he often played host for some of the biggest ones coming through town.   

“Over the years we’ve seen Graham Nash and Stephen Stills, John Fogerty, Joe Bonamassa. Beck stopped in. Dave Matthews has always been very nice to us. Sam Shepard, the actor. We’ve met some nice people over the years. They come here, they love Saratoga and they like that they don’t get bothered here. We always take the low key, engage as they want, but you have to know that they’re working people too.”

As a young man, McCabe had fancied becoming a veterinarian or a baseball player. “Everything else since then happened by accident,” he said. “Thanks to family and friends I’ve been able to make it work over the years. The city’s been very good to me. The kids were all born here. And the downtown vibe is great.” 

From 2004-2007, McCabe served as city Finance Commissioner.  He was a popular member of the council and independent of any political party. 

“You learn a lot about your fellow citizens, and what I learned was: how smart I wasn’t. At those meetings when people come up and speak – people from all walks of life and from all over our city – you see how varied our population is. When you listen to the public comments you realize: My goodness, how many passionate people there are; How many qualified opinions there are. And from people out there who are smarter than you. Just because you’re in office, it doesn’t mean you’re smarter. It was a life-learning experience for me,” he said.

“I certainly look back on it fondly. It was a challenge, but I thoroughly enjoyed working for the people of Saratoga Springs. I did my best.”

ALBANY — Gov. Andrew Cuomo Tuesday announced the launch of New York Arts Revival – a public-private partnership tasked with a return of the arts and culture to the public space.   

“We must accelerate the return of the arts. Cities are, by definition, centers of energy, entertainment, theater and cuisine.… what is a city without social, cultural and creative synergy,” he said, in front of a pair of screens depicting images of dancers, musicians, and the bright theater lights of Broadway.   

Cuomo quoted from JFK, remarks the president made at Amherst College in Massachusetts in late October 1963: “I see little of more importance to our country and our civilization than full recognition of the place of the artist.”

“Almost no one has been hurt more by COVID than our artists,” Cuomo added, citing an NEA study that reported 52% of actors 55% of dancers, and 27% of musicians were put out of work due to the pandemic. “In New York, the arts and culture industry accounts for almost half a million jobs and generate $120 billion in economic output…we must act, we cannot wait until summer to turn the lights back on the arts and provide a living wage for artists.“

A series of pop-up performances across the state are being organized, the launch of which will be a Feb. 4 event to feature “more than 150 world-class artists,” Cuomo said.

Rapid testing, he said, is key to open restaurants, theaters, office buildings and other venues, and there are plans being prepared to open hundreds of rapid testing “pop-up” sites across the state.

That testing strategy was put to use at last weekend’s Buffalo Bills game, where 7,000 fans who were allowed to attend the event were COVID tested before the game. The tests were conducted via a vehicle drive-thru, and took approximately five minutes per car.

“The Department of Health is monitoring Contact Tracing results, but all early indications suggest this model was successful and it poses great possibilities to re-open events to the public.”