Evening News Brief

Governor Hochul has announced that she will be making 65 million dollars available to local governments to administer booster shots of the COVID 19 Vaccine.  The White House has started saying that all adults should get a third dose of the COVID vaccine 8 months after their last shot.  The FDA has yet to approve the boosters for anyone other than those who have had organ transplants or have compromised immune systems.  Researchers have found that a booster would increase the number of COVID antibodies which start to decrease after 6 months from vaccination.  Detractors of the booster shots point out that antibodies decrease over time with any vaccine but T-Cell immunity has been showing to be constant in vaccinated and in people who have recovered from COVID.  The vaccines have so far been shown to be equally effective against all strains of the COVID virus.

Governor Hochul also said her office is in the process of getting legal clearance for the Department of Health to put a “vax or test” policy in place for teachers, staff and anyone else entering a school this fall.  It would require proof of vaccination or submit to weekly COVID-19 testing.  She said the state is not doing a good enough job getting everyone to take the vaccine and she is willing to quote “make the tough decisions if I think it’ll protect the people of this state.”

The Sharrick Road Bridge between Colby Road and Harper Road will be closing on Sept. 7 for a bridge replacement project. This project is expected to take 3 months. During this time the road will not be passable to regular traffic or emergency vehicles. A detour will be posted.

Batavia Downs wants you to know their new schedule for horse racing.  Wednesday racing will be off for 2 weeks from September 1^st through the 15^th.  Racing will shift back to Fridays starting on the 3^rd.  September 4^th Saturday times will move to 5pm except for the November 6^th Breeders Cup which will be at 3:15.  The Clubhouse will be from 4-8pm.