Slow COVID Case Reduction Continues; Westchester Sees Vaccination Increase
Westchester continues to see a slow reduction in the number of active COVID-19 cases, down from the August highs but not nearly a significant enough reduction for officials to declare that the pandemic has been conquered.
Westchester reported 2,314 active COVID cases as of Sunday, nearly 300 cases lower from two weeks ago and a little less than 500 fewer over the past three weeks.
Westchester County Executive George Latimer said the numbers represent a hopeful trend but cautioned the public against making any victory declarations over the virus.
“With all of that, the numbers are encouraging but we’re not out of the woods yet,” Latimer said. “So we’re going to look at policies and ways we can continue to deal with this pandemic.”
Currently, those strategies include continuing to try and persuade the remaining eligible county residents to get vaccinated as well as partnering with school districts on pop-up vaccination sites and procuring about 200,000 child-size masks for children under 12 years old.
Although the pace of vaccinations tailed off through most of the summer, Westchester has been seeing a noticeable uptick since the Delta variant caused a spike in cases locally and nationally and the full FDA approval of the Pfizer vaccine.
As of late last week, Westchester has 87.4 percent of its eligible population vaccinated, Latimer said, after that figured hovered at or just above 80 percent for an extended period. There have been 720,905 county residents 18 years old and up who have received at least one dose of one of the vaccines. With an estimated 200,000 children in the county under 12 years old and a population of just over one million people, Latimer said that is an outstanding percentage that is helping to limit the spread of the virus compared to the previous waves.
“When I look at Westchester and I see we’re at this number of 87 percent, that is a very good number,” he said. “That is a tribute to the people of Westchester that understand what the value of vaccination is. It’s a tribute to the work that’s being done by medical professionals all across this county and I think the county plays a role in making vaccinations as available to people as is possible.”
As of Saturday, there were 74 COVID-19-related hospitalizations, down a little more than 25 percent since 102 hospitalizations were reported in the county on Aug. 31. During the past week, there were six additional deaths attributed to the virus, increasing the county’s death toll to 2,327 since the start of the pandemic. The week before there were seven COVID deaths.
In Putnam County, the painstakingly slow reduction in cases similarly continues. As of Sept. 16, there were 107 active cases in the county, down from 130 four weeks earlier. There are currently three hospitalizations and there has been one death this month, moving the death toll up to 95.
In the larger picture, the Mid Hudson region registered a 3.4 percent positivity rate on Sunday, tied for the second-lowest of the state’s 10 regions with Long Island and trailing only New York City, which had a 1.9 percent positivity rate. All other regions had at least a 3 percent rate on Sunday, with two regions, Finger Lakes and Western New York, at or just above 5 percent, according to the New York State tracker.
Westchester and Putnam each registered a 2.5 percent positivity rate on Sunday, tied for the lowest in the seven-county region.
Latimer said when government and policymakers devise strategies when tackling the pandemic, it is with one goal in mind – to prevent avoidable deaths.
“All of this, everything being done by the state, being done by the county and the local governments, the school districts, by public health professionals everywhere is designed to stop people from dying, trying to make it less likely rather than more likely we would lose them,” he said.
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/
