Coronavirus Cluster: 14 In Isolation From Graduation, Parties

WHITE PLAINS, NY — The recently announced cluster of new coronavirus positive tests in Chappaqua was the subject of Westchester County Executive George Latimer's daily news conference Monday. Speaking from the town of New Castle town hall, he said the exposure was traced back to the Horace Greeley High School graduation ceremony, held at the Chappaqua train station parking lot June 20 and parties afterward.

Latimer said the incident involved people from two families and that one of the individuals did not exhibit symptomS at the time of testing.

County Health Commissioner Dr. Sherlita Amler said there are now 14 people who tested positive for the virus who were either in the same event or around the same people. They are in isolation. It is not known if the 14 are all students.

She said the heath department elicited names of people the 14 were in contact with and those people will be contacted to see if they have any symptoms and gather other information.

Amler said those people who may have come in contact with the 14 will be placed into quarantine for 14 days. She did not have an exact number of people who have been placed in quarantined.

Amler noted that those in quarantine who test negative for the virus are not out of the woods until they have completed the quarantine process.

Latimer gave a shout out to CareMount Medical, which stayed open late Saturday and performed 200 tests.

Lt. James Dumser of the New Castle Police Department said two officers were at the drive-in graduation ceremony and asked the school district to make an announcement during it for people to get back in their cars. He said those two officers are now quarantining because of possible exposure.

Latimer said that the party afterwards, which was attended by juniors and seniors, possibly from other nearby communities, was not sponsored by the school district or the town.

"This particular event happened in Chappaqua, but it could have happened anywhere," he said, adding that is why it's important to use masks and following social distancing rules.

"You may be fit as a fiddle," Latimer said, "but you must have a practical mind about this."

He said COVID-19 was a disease that has killed more than 1,400 people in the county, and that having fun is secondary to stopping the disease.

Coronavirus Update

As of Monday, there are 34,798 confirmed positive coronavirus cases in the county, Latimer said. There were 18 new positive cases since Sunday.

The number of active cases of the virus continues to fall: 471 active cases Monday, down 19 from Sunday.

"Three weeks ago, we had 951 cases," Latimer said. "When you look at the tracker you may see blips up or down. But the general trend line has been downward."

Regarding hospitalizations, he said there are now 73 people with COVID-19-related illnesses in the hospitals. Three weeks ago, there were 160.

To date, 263,260 people have been tested for the virus. Eighty-three percent of them have tested negative, Latimer said.

Four additional county residents died since Sunday, bringing the total to 1,424, he said.

"The overall set of numbers are continuing to be encouraging," Latimer said.

"One of the tools we have is wearing a mask," he said. "It's not a political statement. It's simply to potentially prevent the spread of the disease."

Here is the map of the confirmed and active new coronavirus cases by community.

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