Westchester 'Concerned' About Rising Coronavirus Cases

WHITE PLAINS, NY — The new coronavirus continues spreading in an aggressive fashion and is something about which Westchester County officials are concerned.

At his weekly coronavirus briefing Monday, County Executive George Latimer said, because the increase in the number of cases clearly points to a second wave for the virus, he will add a second briefing each week for the foreseeable future.

"There are things that are happening at a very fast speed," he said, "and we're going to have to quickly respond."

The second briefing for each week will be on Thursdays. For Thanksgiving week, the briefings will be on Monday and Wednesday.

Latimer said there are now 44,576 confirmed cases of the new coronavirus in Westchester. Just over 41,000 of those have been resolved, leaving 3,515 active cases of the virus.

He said there were 2,252 active cases just a week ago and about 1,500 two weeks ago.

In comparison, in the middle of October, there were 942 actives.

While he said that it may be argued that the more you test the more active cases there will be, "the rate of infection is increasing," he said, adding that the county is roughly in the range of 3.5 percent.

"The line is heading straight up," Latimer said.

He said the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19-related illnesses continues to increase.

Two weeks ago there were 47 people in the hospital.

The number of fatalities has begun to climb again. The most recent number, Latimer said, is 121.

Where there were just 11 deaths during the months of July and August, he said, 11 people have died in the past week. The state reported two deaths yesterday in Westchester.

"This virus is spreading," Latimer said. "It is spreading in an aggressive action and it is something we are very concerned about."

He said that Gov. Andrew Cuomo will issue new mandates if necessary but the county will take action to limit the number of its 4,500 employees working on site to 25 percent beginning Nov. 23. There are, of course, departments such as corrections, sewer and wastewater and highways where it's not practical to have all personnel work remotely.

The county is also recommending that private businesses also limit their in-person workforces.

Additionally, all of the county's boards and commissions will be conducting business virtually.

Port Chester remains the only micro-cluster zone in the county and is still categorized as a "orange" zone.

The zone, as of Sunday, had a 3.95 percent positive rate, down from 4.05 percent Saturday. The current seven-day rolling average is 9.01 percent.

The designation as an orange zone means that public and private schools can have in-person learning only if all students and staff are tested for the virus. High-risk businesses cannot open. Restaurants can offer outdoor dining, with a maximum of four people at a table. Worship services are limited to 33 percent capacity — or a maximum of 25 people. Mass gatherings must be limited to 10 people, whether in- or outdoors.

The latest Port Chester micro-cluster zone map can be found here.

Latimer said the county has been working closely with the school district superintendents to support safety and mitigation efforts in schools and communities.

He said the goal of schools is to serve as many young people in their facilities every day as possible.

While some parents have a desire to have schools return to full, in-person learning, the rising cases of the new coronavirus make that not possible at this time, Latimer said.

To do so would mean sacrificing social-distancing protocols and reducing the schools' ability to slow the spread of the disease.

Here is the map of confirmed and active coronavirus cases in Westchester County broken down by community.

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