Rockland Coronavirus: Restrictions Imposed In 4 New Hot Spots

ROCKLAND COUNTY, NY — Because of rising coronavirus rates in Pearl River, West Haverstraw, Suffern and Stony Point, most of Rockland County has had new restrictions imposed.

The four communities have been added to Rockland's original hot spot, centered in Monsey and Spring Valley, which was only downgraded to yellow zone on Friday.

Yellow-zone rules include a 25-person maximum for mass gatherings, no more than four people to a table while dining, and 20 percent weekly testing of in-person students and faculty in schools.

In Rockland County, there are 1,524 active cases, up from 992 just 10 days ago. There are 52 people hospitalized with confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19. Another resident has died, and the death toll is now 691.

"We are concerned by the increase in case numbers here in Rockland," County Executive Ed Day said in a news release. "The Governor’s announcement today should be viewed as a warning that we must all redouble our efforts to take the proper hygienic precautions."

Day said the county's case investigation and contact tracing program points to youth sports, parties and family events as the main drivers of the new cases.

Local businesses are not the sources, he said. The data gathered by Rockland's Department of Health show the precautions put in place in restaurants, gyms, retail shops and other businesses are working.

However, additional restrictions on local businesses would be put in place if case numbers continue to increase and the state categorized parts or all of the county as orange or red zones, he pointed out.

The four new micro-clusters in Rockland are part of a long list of hot spots in the Hudson Valley accounced Thursday by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, including Newburgh, New Windsor, Middletown, Highland Falls in Orange County and New Rochelle, Ossining, Tarrytown, Yonkers and Peekskill in Westchester County.

In a news conference Thursday, officials in Dutchess Putnam, Orange and Ulster counties said they're seeing the same kind of "casual" spread.

Youth sports, particularly traveling teams, were driving Putnam County's spike, said Health Commissioner Dr. Michael J. Nesheiwat.

"In Pine Bush we had 20 people who tested positive from a house party," said Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus.

The county officials had strong words about coronavirus denial and misinformation, such as not being a senior citizen means you're safe, or that the coronavirus is no worse than the flu, or that masks don't work, or that since 8 out of 10 people who catch it have at most mild symptoms, it's no big deal.

In reality it's a huge problem for everyone, they said.

"It's really burdening our resources - first responders, hospital beds, nursing homes, funeral homes," said Dr. Irina Gelman said. "Those are issues that impact us community-wide."

People need to filter out the emotion and the exhaustion, said Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan, because while we might not feel the way we felt in the spring, "in terms of what the virus is doing it's the same."