Ted Remsnyder reports for Columbia-Greene Media that as Greene County officials ignore the state's new mask mandate, they announced yet another local death from COVID-19. The 88th COVID-19 death in Greene County was an unidentified man in his mid-70s who had comorbidity issues and was not vaccinated. COVID-19 case counts have been rising locally, and a new variant of the virus is reportedly more easily transmitted. “All of our positive numbers have been as high as they’ve been in a year, but the few times when someone who is vaccinated gets positive, the symptoms are very mild,” Groden said. “I know a gentleman who didn’t get vaxxed and he wound up in the hospital. So if that’s your option, would you rather just have a mild case of the flu with typical flu-like symptoms, or do you want to run the risk of being in the emergency room? I guess I just don’t understand why you wouldn’t get vaxxed.” Even in the face of mounting cases, Greene County officials have not taken any actions to slow the spread besides holding vaccine and testing clinics. Greene County Administrator Groden has gone on record, saying the county will not enforce the state mask mandate that goes into effect Dec. 13, saying the county does not have the staffing to do so. Greene County Legislative Chair Patrick Linger said he needs to be explained the science of how masks work to slow transmission. “Before we take that step, I'd like some confirmation of the science involved in determining [that] reverting to this mask mandate slows a spread,” he said. Instead of taking any new action in the face of the rising numbers, county officials are seeing the local results. “We had 83 people that made COVID testing appointments the other day (Dec. 6),” Groden said. “We had 16 of those tests turn positive on us.” Read more about this story at HudsonValley360.com.