New Coronavirus Cases Stay Low In Rockland

ROCKLAND COUNTY, NY — The new coronavirus continues to be found in Rockland County, but at low rates. There were 11 new confirmed cases as of Thursday, according to state health officials. Since the outbreak started, 21 percent of the 63,458 people tested in the county have tested positive. The death toll stands at 503.

Rockland's coronavirus dashboard shows how much the fatalities have declined in the past month.

State health officials said 905 people were tested yesterday.

County officials said by far, COVID-19 case investigations and contact tracing have been the most time consuming and largest effort of Rockland's Health Department during the pandemic. As cases peaked, the Health Department solicited assistance from various county departments and volunteers. These included the Sheriff's Office, Probation, District Attorney, and staff from local police departments.

As the county begins to re-open, a robust contact tracing initiative in cooperation with New York State is being implemented to help prevent the virus from rebounding, county officials said. Contact tracing involves not only reaching each and every case for an interview, as we had been doing, but also reaching out to every person they have been in contact with and then performing daily monitoring of each case and contact until they are out of isolation or quarantine.

The magnitude of contact tracing at this scale will take an "army" of contract tracers that you are hearing about in the news. Operations staff are focused on implementing this effort at this time.

This strategy of focusing resources on the sick and exposed will be essential to keeping the virus at bay. Contact tracing will only be as effective as the public is in participating in interviews and following isolation and quarantine orders. We encourage residents to answer the phone and cooperate with our case investigators and contact tracers to help protect themselves, their families, and our communities, county officials said.

"There have been no typical workdays since COVID-19 began spreading in Rockland. We all try to stay flexible and adapt to the new challenges and needs each week brings. The routines that are typical for me involve holding daily meetings to keep operational units informed and coordinated with each other, keeping the ICS informed of operational updates, assisting with new challenges, and facilitating changes or expansion in operations. All of our efforts are intended to keep residents informed and safe," Sam Rulli, director of the county's Center for Environmental Health, said in the county's public health media series.