Yates goes two weeks without a case

YATES COUNTY--Public Health Director Annmarie Flanagan informed the Yates County Legislature Monday, July 12 that there has not been a new confirmed case of COVID-19 in Yates County since June 28. Despite the low virus numbers, Flanagan said the county is continuing to run walk-in vaccination clinics on Wednesdays and Fridays to help increase the vaccination rates which currently stand at 46.6 percent of the population with at least one dose of the vaccine and 57.2 percent of adults 18 and over.
"Those COVID numbers are very positive, the more people we get vaccinated this summer the better our numbers will be in the fall when people stay inside," County Administrator Nonie Flynn said. "But we need to keep getting vaccinated now to keep those numbers down (later)."
Despite not having the official numbers until Tuesday, July 13, Flynn said at the meeting that she anticipates excellent sales tax figures for the second quarter of this year.
"For the year to date we are up 29 percent over 2020 for sales tax revenue," Flynn said. "That equates to $1.6 million over what it was a year ago."
For further context, Flynn said that 2020, even with a dismal second quarter due to the COVID pause, was still on par with 2019.
"But this year our numbers are up significantly and hopefully we can sustain those good numbers," Flynn added. "If we can, we will come in well over budget if we can keep those numbers up."
The legislature voted to accept $765,000 in funding to help tackle the county's opioid crisis.
"The goal is to reduce opioid-related deaths," Flynn stated. "The funding flows through the community services department and it's really being passed on to a lot of different agencies. So we are working with a lot of agencies on this it's not just the county."
The legislature also voted to create and fill a full-time assistant district attorney position to help alleviate the workload being experienced by the department due to, in part, new discovery laws. Leslie Church, Carlie Chilson and Richard Wilson voted against the measure.
Flynn, who said that the request for the position becoming full-time came directly from the district attorney's office, has been facing issues with the workload as have other counties across the state.