Putnam Coronavirus Update: 12 New Cases

PUTNAM COUNTY, NY — The Hudson region is expected to begin Phase 1 of re-opening next week, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said at his Friday coronavirus briefing.

For Putnam and the other six counties in that region, that means:

• Construction
• Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting
• Retail - (Limited to curbside or in-store pickup or drop off)
• Manufacturing
• Wholesale Trade

Construction staging work can start now, the governor said.

Still, the outbreak is not over. Putnam had 12 new COVID-19 cases added to its running count on Friday. There are 14 people with the disease in Putnam County Hospital.

About one-third of the county's 1,376 cases have been in the town of Carmel.

The Mid-Hudson region has met every state benchmark but two. With six deaths from COVID-19 reported by local hospitals overnight, the region is over the maximum allowed of less than five.

Also, not enough contact tracers have been lined up, according to the state. Rockland County Executive Ed Day said Thursday that the state had changed the rules and instead of hiring an "army" of tracers was now putting that responsibility on the counties.