Westchester County Records More Than 1,110 New Coronavirus Cases, Putnam Sees Over 130
Just days after active COVID cases began to fall, Westchester and Putnam counties saw a large intake of coronavirus cases reported on Friday while also setting record highs for daily testing since the start of the pandemic.
Coronavirus cases increased by 1,113 in Westchester County on Friday, bringing the total number of positive cases to 81,982 since the start of the pandemic. There are now 11,368 active cases, according to state data.
Testing reached an all-time high since March, with 16,024 COVID-19 tests administered on Wednesday. Overall, there have been over 1.58 million COVID-19 tests taken in Westchester since the start of the pandemic, state data shows.
The county’s daily positivity rate is 6.95 percent.
“The positivity rate will change when communities decide it will change,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said on Friday. “It’s purely a function of how a community acts and there’s still personal responsibility. We talked about what would happen with a COVID spread through the holiday season, and much of the diagnosis came true.”
The county reported 11 more deaths, resulting in a total of 1,774 COVID-19-related fatalities since March, according to the state tracker. This week 53 people have died from the virus, state data shows, with 110 overall fatalities since the start of the new year.
As of Jan. 12, there are 554 virus patients in Westchester hospitals.
Putnam County’s total caseload has reached 6,203, with 136 additional positive cases recorded on Friday, according to state data. The county’s daily positivity rate is 8.24 percent, with a record number 1,650 tests administered Wednesday.
Putnam currently has 1,266 active cases.
“We said that you were going to see the holiday season increase social activity, and I reminded New Yorkers every day to celebrate smart,” Cuomo said. “People said that it was the holiday season and they wanted to celebrate, but if you don’t celebrate smart, we’ll see an increase in the COVID transmission rate. And we saw an increase in the COVID transmission rate.”
There have been 70 coronavirus-related deaths since the start of the pandemic. No new deaths were reported on Friday.
Statewide there were 19,942 new positive cases on Friday, with a record high of 324,671 COVID tests administered. The daily positivity rate is 6.14 percent.
The state recorded 183 additional COVID-19-related fatalities, bringing the death toll to 32,566 since March.
Total hospitalizations are at 8,808, a decrease of 15 over the previous day. Across New York there have been 1,203,550 positive coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic, according to the state tracker.
An additional case of the UK variant was identified in Nassau County. To date, there are 16 known cases of the variant in New York State.
Here are the latest updates on Jan. 16
The Putnam County Department of Health in the span of two weeks has effectively inoculated over 900 people with the COVID-19 vaccine, but officials are uncertain when the next batch of doses will arrive from the state.
Three events have been held at Putnam County’s two distribution sites where eligible individuals in phases 1A and 1B received the vaccine. Health officials administered 307 injections at the Philipstown Recreation Center on Thursday, with 611 shots given last week at the Carmel Friendship Center.
Despite the achievement, the county no longer has availability to vaccines. County Executive MaryEllen Odell is requesting the publics patience as the area awaits more.
As of Friday, county health officials had no indication of when a new shipment of vaccines will arrive from the state.
“We need to ask for your continued patience,” Odell said. “This is hard on everyone, but I know it is especially hard on our seniors, who are the most vulnerable to the virus and, often, the most isolated. We are working as best we can to get you vaccinated, and as soon as we get more supply, we will. The best we can do now, is keep you informed.”
The vaccination process is currently underway with the Westchester County Center serving as a state-run health facility for inoculation in Westchester County.
Wondering if you’re eligible to receive the vaccine?
The list of eligible workers and the form to register is available at https://am-i-eligible.covid19vaccine.health.ny.gov/Public/prescreener.
Westchester Active Coronavirus Cases by Municipality
Here are the active cases by municipality in Westchester as of Friday. With a lag between the total number of cases confirmed by the state and the tally of cases by town, the total number of municipal cases might be slightly different than what the county’s active cases reflects.
- Ardsley – 37
- Bedford – 160
- Briarcliff Manor – 68
- Bronxville – 76
- Buchanan – 50
- Cortlandt – 428
- Croton-on-Hudson – 88
- Dobbs Ferry – 99
- Eastchester – 196
- Elmsford – 57
- Greenburgh – 462
- Harrison – 277
- Hastings-on-Hudson – 57
- Irvington – 34
- Larchmont – 42
- Lewisboro – 59
- Mamaroneck Town – 112
- Mamaroneck Village – 254
- Mount Kisco – 115
- Mount Pleasant – 218
- Mount Vernon – 712
- New Castle – 124
- New Rochelle – 920
- North Castle – 101
- North Salem – 56
- Ossining Town – 43
- Ossining Village – 429
- Peekskill – 450
- Pelham – 60
- Pelham Manor – 63
- Pleasantville – 66
- Port Chester – 412
- Pound Ridge – 22
- Rye Brook – 105
- Rye City – 166
- Scarsdale – 91
- Sleepy Hollow – 164
- Somers – 229
- Tarrytown – 198
- Tuckahoe – 84
- White Plains – 681
- Yonkers – 2,808
- Yorktown – 522
