4 Oneida County employees test positive for COVID-19 By Luke Perry
Four Oneida County government employees tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday. Some were asymptomatic.
All 1,700 county employees are now required to get tested. These were the first confirmed cases within Oneida County government.
Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente remarked last Friday that “we haven’t seen cases” in county government, though the government was “at good capacity every day.”
There have been 775 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Oneida County, including 35 deaths. There are 332 active cases.
Local testing has focused on people with symptoms and people requiring tests for occupational reasons, such as healthcare workers. Testing is expanding and becoming more available to the general public.
Oneida County recently released best practice guidelines and checklists for businesses entering Phase One of COVID reopening.
Photo from Oneida County Health Department
Dr. Kent Hall, Chief Physician Executive at the Mohawk Valley Health System, believes a vaccine is still likely months away. The average time for a vaccine is 17 years from starting development to becoming fully operational.
“If we’re going to get this done in a year to 18 months,” Hall told Keeler in the Morning (WIBX in Utica), “that is light speed compared to what is usual and customary.” Unprecedented international medical efforts will expedite this process, but it will still take time.
Yesterday, markets reacted positively to Moderna’s encouraging phase 1 clinical trial for a vaccine candidate that seeks to develop neutralizing antibodies. Phase 1 is the first of four phases of clinical drug trials. According to the Food and Drug Administration, 70 percent of drugs advance to phase 2.
U.S. drug companies immediately sought to develop COVID-19 related medications when the pandemic began. Two dozen companies are working on vaccines.
Dr. Hall thinks it is likely “we’ll find some kind of medication, or group of medications in concert, that will help with the system and help decrease the severity, before we get the vaccine.” Testing off label benefits of existing medications is one way drug companies are pursuing this.
“There is a lot that were learning” in terms of epidemiology, COVID-19 symptoms, and treatment, but “there is a lot we don’t know,” Hall said. The virus is only six months old.
Luke Perry (@PolSciLukePerry) is Professor of Government at Utica College
