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Westchester County Executive George Latimer said that there are currently 9,852 COVID-19 cases, which is the lowest mark since the outbreak hit the apex over the past two weeks. There have been 24,656 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Westchester since the outbreak began, which has resulted in 809 deaths.
Latimer said that there are still more than 1,000 people hospitalized with the virus, though the number continues to drop.
Latimer said that while the number of deaths has continued to increase, the numbers are relatively positive, as the hospitalization rate has remained steady, and the numbers keep going down.
“We’re currently at around an 11 percent hospitalization rate, which is below that 20 percent number we’re looking to avoid. We’re seeing the active cases dropping and (hospital discharges) increasing, so that’s a continued sign of the decrease of the presence of the virus.
“As much as every death is a tragedy, we’re seeing the rate of fatalities dropping week-to-week, so we hope that we can keep that number dropping and get to the point of no deaths, which will show this virus has moved on.”
According to the New York State Department of Health, there have been at least 23,803 COVID-19 cases that resulted in 743 deaths. The breakdown of cases by municipality, according to the Westchester County Department of Health, whose data lags behind the state:
- Yonkers: 4,035;
- New Rochelle: 1,798;
- Mount Vernon: 1,729;
- White Plains: 1,041;
- Greenburgh: 700;
- Port Chester: 679;
- Ossining Village: 656;
- Peekskill: 440;
- Cortlandt: 417;
- Mount Pleasant: 376;
- Yorktown: 370;
- Scarsdale: 290;
- Eastchester: 286;
- Harrison: 234;
- Sleepy Hollow: 232;
- Mamaroneck Village: 209;
- Tarrytown: 170;
- Mount Kisco: 162;
- Bedford: 153;
- Dobbs Ferry: 149;
- Rye Brook: 234;
- Somers: 127;
- Rye City: 122;
- Elmsford: 118;
- Pelham: 109;
- Mamaroneck Town: 99;
- New Castle: 99;
- North Castle: 97;
- Croton-on-Hudson: 94;
- Tuckahoe: 94;
- Ossining Town: 91;
- Pleasantville: 78;
- Hastings-on-Hudson: 75;
- Pelham Manor: 73;
- North Salem: 67;
- Briarcliff Manor: 62;
- Ardsley: 60;
- Lewisboro: 57;
- Irvington: 52;
- Larchmont: 47;
- Bronxville: 45;
- Buchanan: 22;
- Pound Ridge: 16.
Latimer noted that he received permission from Gov. Andrew Cuomo to remove late fees for Westchester residents and businesses for the late payment of property taxes.
The county will be permitted to accept less than 60 percent of the taxes due on Monday, May 25 from towns as cities as long as the municipalities waive residents’ late fees for the late payment of property taxes up to July 15.
To have the fee waived, the resident or business must certify economic hardship caused by COVID-19.
The threshold for the certification requires in part that a resident must have qualified for the STAR exemption, is not paying property taxes through an escrow account and can assert that they have suffered the loss of substantial employment income as a result of COVID-19.
“I want to thank Gov. Cuomo for recognizing the need to help Westchester residents and businesses,” Latimer said. “I am concerned about the financial pressures that the residents of this County are under.
"We can, we should - and now, we are - offering them some financial relief by waiving the late payments for the county taxes now due. This is the right thing to do for our constituents.”
As of Tuesday, April 21, there have been 242,785 confirmed COVID-19 cases in New York, which led to 14,828 deaths. There are 800,932 COVID-19 cases across the country.
"We've paid a tremendous price to get where we are today. A tremendous price to control this beast," Cuomo said. "We've been through difficult situations before. We went through 9/11, which was a crushing experience. ... We went through Super Storm Sandy, and we're the better for it.
"It's the hard times in life that make you better and show who you are. You have to be intelligent enough to learn from them and get the messages from them.
"That's what we're doing here and we're all doing it together and collectively. Sometimes you're going to get knocked on your rear end, it happens, the question is do you get up, and what kind of person are you when you get up after being knocked on your rear end."
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