Since the number of positive tests, hospitalizations, and hospital deaths due to the virus peaked in mid-April, the Hudson Valley has seen a steady decline in the data through this week.
In the Hudson Valley, there were 1,888 COVID-19 hospitalizations on Saturday, April 11, down to 274 as of Monday, June 8. There were 75 hospital deaths on Monday, April 13, which plunged all the way to zero on Tuesday, June 9. The number of new positive COVID-19 tests spiked to nearly 2,000 on Thursday, April 9, and was down to 73 as of Monday.
There were 5,881 COVID-19 tests administered in the past 24 hours in the mid-Hudson region, with 73 (1 percent) testing positive.
Of those positive tests, 35 were in Westchester, followed by Rockland (13), Orange and Dutchess (10 each), Ulster (3), Putnam, and Sullivan (1 each).
“The Hudson Valley enters Phase 2 today, and it’s a long time coming,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said during his daily COVID-19 briefing on Tuesday at the New York Medical College in Valhalla. “You did it … the numbers are where they are because you brought the numbers down.
“This was an act of the people, not an act of government,” he added. “You got disciplined, you got smart, and you did what you had to do. This is a national, if not international success story.”
With hundreds of thousands of workers in the metro New York area getting back to work, Cuomo said that the MTA has been hard at work to ensure Metro-North trains and stations are properly sanitized for commuters.
Cuomo noted that everyone riding on Metro-North trains must wear masks, and hand sanitizer will be delivered. He said anyone without a mask or hand sanitizer will be provided some by train employees, who will enforce social distancing protocols.
“When you get on a Metro-North you’re going to see that those cars are cleaner than they’ve ever been,” he said. “We’ve always complained about dirty cars … I know I complained for many years, but now the cars are so clean. It’s remarkable.
“We’re now disinfecting the subway cars and the Metro-North cars. Disinfecting, not just cleaning, who would have ever thought.”
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