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New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced on Tuesday, March 3 that the man in his 50s who works as a lawyer at a small firm in midtown Manhattan is currently in a New York City hospital after testing positive for COVID-19. His family has also been quarantined in their New Rochelle residence.
According to the Department of Health, officials are looking into where the man went and where his family has traveled. They are surveying tests of the family, including two children who attend schools in New York City.
Health officials noted that the man attended events at a house of worship in New Rochelle, used Metro-North to commute into Manhattan for work, and he’s been seen in recent weeks at New York-Presbyterian Hospital in Bronxville.
At the direction of New York State, Westchester County Health Commissioner Sherlita Amler has directed that Young Israel of New Rochelle halt all services immediately and for the foreseeable future due to potential COVID-19 exposure connected to the man who tested positive today.
Additionally, congregants of the Temple who attended services on Saturday, Feb. 22, and a funeral and a bat mitzvah at the temple on Sunday, Feb. 23 must self-quarantine until at the very earliest Sunday, March 8.
Those who do not self-quarantine will be mandated by the County Department of Health to do so. Currently, the Department of Health is monitoring 12 other individuals who are quarantined.
Westchester County Executive George Latimer said that Cuomo securing $40 million in emergency funding to combat the coronavirus pandemic is going to prove even more important now.
“We know at the county level that we have to work in harmony with the state and we appreciate knowing that the financial resources will be there,” he said. “We know that this virus, which now has appeared to move based on issues that don’t involve particular travel to a certain country is now becoming ‘community spread.’
“We have a major task of detective work to determine which individuals were exposed to this and during what period of time. We have to work to determine who else may have been exposed.”
Amler said that the Department of Health’s role “is to start investigating, to start interviewing every person we can who may have information about how this person may have gotten this infection and who this person may have been exposed to.
“We will be identifying individuals of concern that we will reach out to. Some may require testing, some may not. We’ll be talking to people in regards to their health.
"We are going to continue to investigate and will be trying to release that information to the degree we can and keep the public as informed as possible in terms of what they should do.”
The Health Commissioner stressed that something as simple as washing one’s hands could be key to curtailing the spread of coronavirus.
She also noted that anyone who suspects they may have coronavirus should never just appear at their area hospital for treatment, and must call ahead to help protect caregivers.
“We have a responsibility to take care of ourselves. People need to be cognizant of how they can protect their own health because there may be cases out there we don’t know about yet,” she said.
“Hand-washing is the No. 1 thing. The most important thing you and your family can do to protect yourself.
"If you can’t wash your hands frequently, hand sanitizer works great. You want to make sure you get between the fingers and the back of the hands. We need people to pay attention to that.”
The complete press conference can be seen above.
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