Dollar General Offering Utica / Rome Area Workers Extra Pay To Get COVID-19 Vaccine

Retailer Dollar General announced that it is offering its Utica, Rome, Herkimer, and Syracuse workers four hours of pay if they go get the COVID-19 vaccine.

According to The Hill, the company said the offer is currently only applicable to front-line workers in Central New York, and across their whole company. They do have plans to extend it to its distribution and transportation teams. Dollar General wants to make it clear that the offer is only an incentive and the company will not require its workers to get the vaccine.

We understand the decision to receive the COVID-19 vaccination is a personal choice, and although we are encouraging employees to take it, we are not requiring them to do so.

Dollar General is one of the first larger companies to incentivize its employees to get the vaccine.

Oneida County Vaccine Numbers, and COVID in Herkimer and Oneida

From WIBX, here are the Oneida County COVID-19 vaccination numbers as of midnight on January 12th:

• 276 new vaccinations distributed at Oneida County Government’s MVCC Utica POD, 1,390 total.
• Additional Distribution Site Vaccinations
• MVHS: 6,707
• Rome Memorial Hospital: 2,476
• Other (clinics, urgent cares, pharmacies, etc.): Unknown

Here are the Oneida County COVID-19 case numbers as of midnight on January 12th:

• 234 new positive cases, 15,430 total.
• 6,699 active positive cases.
• 3 new COVID-19-related deaths, 277 total.  1 is nursing home-related.
• 163 patients are hospitalized in Oneida County.  144 at MVHS.  19 at Rome Memorial.
• 30 are nursing home residents.
• 14 patients are hospitalized out of county.
• 5,954 positive cases have been resolved.
• Total negative results were not updated by NYS DOH as of 4 p.m.
• Total tests were not updated by NYS DOH as of 4 p.m.
• 6,699 in mandatory isolation.
• 1,516 mandatory quarantine.

Numbers of Covid-19 cases in Herkimer County as of 12pm 01/13/2021:
Total New Positive Cases Today:  76
Total Lab Confirmed Positive Covid -19 test results: (From 3/13/20). 3,605
Total Active Positive Covid -19 Patients:  1,212
Total Hospitalized:  54
Total number recovered:  2,353
Covid Deaths:  40
Negative Covid-19 test results:  80,527
Mandatory Quarantine (with public health orders): 1,492
Released from Mandatory Quarantine:  0
Precautionary Quarantine:​  720
Released from Precautionary Quarantine today:​ 0"

You can get the latest from WIBX.