Marking Pandemic's 2nd Year With COVID Commemoration

HUDSON VALLEY, NY — On March 3, 2020, we learned of a New Rochelle man hospitalized in serious condition with the coronavirus just one day after the first confirmed case of the mysterious new disease in the entire state: a 39-year-old health care worker living in New York City.

That introduced us to a pandemic that has, in the past two years, brought the Hudson Valley massive social, economic and personal upheaval, overwhelmed local health care systems, and caused increasing acrimony — plus 5.95 million dead around the world including more than 947,000 Americans.

In 2020 and 2021 we saw containment zones, micro-clusters, quarantining, isolation, mask mandates, social distancing, business closings, remote learning, vaccines and anti-vaxxers, new medical treatments and waves of disinformation. And working from home — in a regional culture created by commuting, Metro-North Railroad’s weekday service has still not returned to its pre-pandemic levels.

In the past two years, the coronavirus has made a lot of people sick in the Hudson Valley. The New York Health Department's running hospitalizations chart shows just how rapidly serious cases of COVID-19 have waxed and waned in the past two years:

In the Hudson Valley, two years of deaths from COVID-19 reported by hospitals, nursing homes and adult care facilities totaled 5,813 as of Feb. 26.

• Dutchess County: 700
• Orange: 1,018
• Putnam: 107
• Rockland: 854
• Westchester: 2,934
• Ulster: 200

To date, Westchester county has lost 2,687 lives to the virus.

On Thursday, county officials will hold an event to honor and remember the Westchester residents lost to COVID-19 and the heroes who have carried us through these many months. You can join it on the county's Facebook page.

The main lobby of the Michaelian Office Building in White Plains is one of two locations for the County's "Ribbons of Remembrance" memorial, with another location at Lenoir Preserve in Yonkers. In both locations the memorial is a place to attach ribbons to commemorate loved ones lost to COVID-19.

The event will begin at 2 p.m. with an interfaith prayer service led by Reverend Tim Dalton, Rabbi Howard Goldsmith and Imam Shaffieq Chace. Music will be provided by the White Plains High School String Ensemble, and remarks will be made by County Executive George Latimer, Westchester County Board Chairwoman Catherine Borgia, Westchester County Youth Bureau Executive Director Dr. DaMia Harris-Madden and Poet Laureate B.K. Fischer. It will conclude at 3 p.m. with a moment of silence and a ringing of the bells at houses of worship in Westchester.

Here are just a few of Patch's articles covering the past two years of pandemic in the Hudson Valley:

• 2nd Coronavirus Case Confirmed In NY; Family In Quarantine
• Coronavirus: One Year Later In Westchester County
• Coronavirus Vaccine 90% Effective In Tests: Pfizer
• Districts Deliberate As Pressure To Reopen Schools Rises
• Local Emergency Declared, Village Reinstates COVID Restrictions
• Hudson Valley Woman Charged With Possessing Fake Covid Vaxx Cards
• Justices Won't Block Vaccine Mandate For NY Health Workers
• 1st Case Of Omicron Variant Detected In Hudson Valley
• NY Holiday Vaxx-or-Mask Mandate: 4 HV County Execs Won't Enforce
• Coronavirus Pandemic Turning 2: Hudson Valley 2021 In Review
• Hudson Valley Schools Prep For Optional Masks As Mandate Lifts