Elmira Star-Gazette
Businesses in Elmira and elsewhere affected by state-mandated COVID-19 restrictions received good news when Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday announced he is lifting all orange and yellow zone designations statewide.
Cuomo in October imposed the restrictions on specific areas due to skyrocketing positive cases of the coronavirus.
Parts of Chemung County including the City of Elmira, Village of Elmira Heights and Village and Town of Horseheads were included in an orange zone, meaning restaurants were limited to takeout and delivery only and other businesses considered nonessential, including gyms, nail salons and barber shops, had to close.
Gyms and fitness centers were eventually allowed to reopen with limited capacity, and personal care businesses could reopen as long as employees providing services were tested weekly for COVID-19.
New York State Team
Dozens of COVID-19 vaccine clinics run by county officials are opening up across New York state as part of the dire push to expand access to shots following a slow rollout inside hospitals and nursing homes last month.
So far, 46 local health departments have received doses of COVID-19 vaccines and plan to begin inoculating health care workers and other groups on the pandemic front lines in coming days and weeks, according to the governor s office and county officials.
The county health departments are part of 636 sites statewide that have been activated thus far in order to get COVID-19 vaccine shots into arms, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday. The other sites include 244 federally qualified health centers, 213 hospital-related locales and 133 urgent care facilities.