Here Are Coronavirus Rates In HV Hot Spots Facing School Closings

HUDSON VALLEY, NY — Four ZIP codes in the Hudson Valley are at the head of New York State's list of the places where coronavirus cases are spiking.

Topping the list is Orange County, where a whopping 27.6 percent positivity rate on tests taken was recorded for the ZIP code 10950 on Friday, according to New York State Health Department data.

The positivity rate for New York as a whole hovers around 1 percent. Here's the list of hot spots as of Oct. 5.

The number of children who are testing positive in Orange and Rockland is unclear. Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced an aggressive enforcement campaign Monday targeting private schools that were not testing. However, while he ordered schools in the New York City hot spots to be closed as of Tuesday, he said officials had to do more analysis of the Hudson Valley coronavirus clusters, because the zip codes don't show exactly where the hot spots are.

SEE: Schools, Synagogues Targeted In Hudson Valley Hot Spots

There were 933 new cases in Orange County as of Sunday, according to the state's COVID19 tracker.

Most were in the ZIP code that includes the town of Palm Tree and village of Kiryas Joel, an ultra-Orthodox Jewish enclave. Geographically, the town is just a small part of the ZIP code, which also includes Monroe. While Kiryas Joel has a school district, it educates just 161 students; roughly 17,000 children in Palm Tree attend yeshivas.

According to the state's school dashboard, the Kiryas Joel Village School reports 2 students and 4 teachers in its building have tested positive for the coronavirus. The state labs report an additional 34 children whose home addresses are within the school district's boundaries have tested positive.

The town of Monroe and the Monroe-Woodbury school district are also in the ZIP code. There are 6,725 students in the district. According to the state's school dashboard, one staffer in the district has tested positive and 11 students who live in the district but do not attend the public schools have tested positive.

In Rockland, the ZIP codes that are hot spots include Monsey, Spring Valley and Suffern, communities mostly in the town of Ramapo. The number of active cases of coronavirus jumped to 1,409 on Monday, up from 1,072 on Friday, and most are in those three communities.

In Spring Valley, the 10977 ZIP code, there were 673 active cases. In Monsey, the 10952 ZIP code, there were 401. In Suffern, the 10901 ZIP code, there were 127 active cases.

In Rockland, there are about 39,000 public school students and more than 25,000 children in private schools, mostly yeshivas.

In the East Ramapo district, there were 258 children with addresses in the district with confirmed positive tests for coronavirus, according to the state's dashboard. In the school district itself, two staffers but no students in the public schools have tested positive.

In the Suffern school district, one student and two staffers in the public school system have tested positive, according to the state dashboard, while 20 children with addresses in the district's geographical area have tested positive.