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Health officials in Westchester are currently monitoring 6677 active COVID-19 cases, down from 7,922 a week ago, 9,343 two weeks ago, and 11,193 as recently as Thursday, Jan. 28.
A total of 103,506 positive COVID-19 infections have been confirmed in Westchester out of nearly two million tests administered. The overall 5.2 percent positive infection rate is down slightly and among the lowest in the Hudson Valley.
"We've gone from about 11,400 to 7,000 in the past month, so that's a good steady trend line," Latimer said. "There was a slight uptick Wednesday and Thursday, but still, the numbers have been dropping.
"The numbers have come down and we're encouraged by that drop in active cases."
There are now 403 COVID-19 patients being treated in Westchester hospitals, approximately 5 percent of the active cases, which is down from more than 50 a week ago, and nearly 200 a month ago.
Latimer noted that the weekly fatalities are also dropping week-to-week, with 39 this week, 54 the week prior and 73 three weeks ago.
There have now been a total of 2,210 COVID-19 deaths in Westchester, including 2,041 county residents.
"In terms of numbers and trends, the number of fatalities each week has been dropping," he said. "We had several weeks of zero over the summer, and that's where we hope to get back to."
The county continues vaccinating residents at a quick clip, with a total of 63,510 first and second doses administered at the Westchester County Center and White Plains Health Clinic as of Friday, Feb. 19.
"The numbers are coming down, and we're encouraged by the reduction in those numbers," Latimer said. "They're not dropping so dramatically to think that we're in the clear, but we''ve been through this once.
"We saw (the numbers) drop dramatically in late spring and early summer, and we were very encouraged," he continued. "We didn't pop a cork and celebrate, but we had our active cases under 500 and we're at around 7,000 today, so our behavior is critical here."
Latimer noted that most public events have been canceled or held virtually since the pandemic peaked, and that the county saw a dramatic post-holiday spike before beginning to level off in the past few weeks.
According to Latimer, prior to Thanksgiving, there were 1,510 COVID-19-related fatalities in Westchester, which has now jumped to 2,041 in the approximate three months following.
"I can tell you there is clearly a correlation between private behavior and activity, which is something we cannot enforce ... We're not going to have someone knocking on your door to see what you are doing to celebrate New Years' or Christmas," he said. "During that period of time, we saw a significant spike in the number of fatalities.
"You cannot deny that we've had a rapid increase in the number of fatalities since Thanksgiving Day," Latimer continued. "It may be that the people at the party did not die of COVID, but they got COVID and passed it on to someone else who had an underlying illness and suffered."
The number of active COVID-19 cases in Westchester, by municipality, according to the Department of Health on Feb. 19:
- Yonkers: 1,832;
- New Rochelle: 632;
- Mount Vernon: 592;
- White Plains: 398;
- Port Chester: 257;
- Yorktown: 246;
- Greenburgh: 234;
- Ossining Village: 186;
- Eastchester: 157;
- Mount Pleasant: 157;
- Peekskill: 163;
- Harrison: 162;
- Cortlandt: 138;
- Somers: 124;
- Tarrytown: 93;
- Mamaroneck Village: 91;
- North Castle: 85;
- New Castle: 77;
- Bedford: 77;
- Sleepy Hollow: 73;
- Scarsdale: 67;
- Rye City: 62;
- Dobbs Ferry: 54;
- Elmsford: 48;
- Rye Brook: 47;
- Mamaroneck Town: 46;
- Hastings-on-Hudson: 46;
- Croton-on-Hudson: 44;
- Mount Kisco: 44;
- Lewisboro: 43;
- Pelham: 43;
- Tuckahoe: 41;
- Pelham Manor: 40;
- Larchmont: 37;
- Ardsley: 34;
- Pleasantville: 33;
- North Salem: 32;
- Bronxville: 31;
- Briarcliff Manor: 30;
- Irvington: 26;
- Irvington: 26;
- Pound Ridge: 20;
- Ossining Town: 18;
- Buchanan: 17.
To celebrate the lives lost in Westchester during the pandemic, County Executive George Latimer said that churches will ring bells at noon on March 3 - the one-year anniversary of the outbreak - and neighbors and community members have been encouraged to go outside and applaud for first responders at 7 p.m. that day.
There were 249,248 COVID-19 tests administered in New York on Feb. 18, according to Cuomo, resulting in 8,710 new cases for a 3.49 percent positive infection rate.
There were 116 new COVID-19-related deaths reported in the past 24 hours.
Statewide, a total of 1,564,483 positive COVID-19 cases have been confirmed out of nearly 36 million tests that have been administered. There have been a total of 37,675 virus-related deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.
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