Monroe County leaders and health officials say walk-ins are now welcome at all county vaccination sites.
The announcement was made during the regular weekly county news briefing Thursday afternoon.
According to Commissioner of Public Health Dr. Michael Mendoza, vaccine supply has begun to outpace demand leaving appointments widely available in the county and the state. Appointments can still be made to ensure a vaccine dose is available when a person arrives at a vaccination site.
Right now, 46.4% of the population in Monroe County has been vaccinated, a number above the state average. More than 247,000 county residents have completed their course of vaccinations and more than 344,000 have had at least one dose.
About 70% of older adults have been vaccinated and county officials say they are seeing a low number of cases in people over age 65.
Despite that good news, COVID-19 cases continue to rise in the county with hospitalizations trending in the same direction. Most of the recent cases are showing up in younger people.
Dr. Mendoza says the positivity rate is trending upward because of COVID-19 variants in the county. He says local competitive ice hockey has put people at higher risk of transmission compared to other sports. There have been 50 recent positive cases associated with ice hockey in Monroe County.
