Coronavirus: Westchester Passes 'Grim Milestone' In Deaths

WHITE PLAINS, NY — Westchester County passed what was called a "very grim milestone" in the new coronavirus crisis. County Executive George Latimer, during his Wednesday daily news conference, said the county had lost its 1,000th resident to the deadly virus overnight.

The number of deaths as of Wednesday were 1,006, he said, adding that the rate of fatalities has slowed.

"Any update is lacking if it doesn't deal with the human element," Latimer said. "This virus can take a human being's life."

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He noted that nationwide more people have died of the coronavirus in just a couple of months than during the 10 years of the Viet Nam war.

"We will work through this," Latimer said, "but we won't get back those lives."

He said the county has 28,626 confirmed positive cases of the new coronavirus, the number of which are going up much more slowly than before.

Almost 21,000 have been infected and are now cleared of the virus, leaving 7,679 active cases.

"Those are less active cases now than we had in the last week of March," Latimer said, which shows the county is flattening the curve.

The number of people who are hospitalized is now 861, and the county has tested almost 91,000 people, which is about 9 percent of the general population.

Below is a map with a community-by-community breakdown of the number of positive cases in Westchester County.

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