Covid-19: 'Micro-Cluster' Strategy Working In "Red Zones," Cuomo Say

New York is making strides in the “red zone” areas where COVID-19 hotspots have cropped up, but it is unlikely that there will be a rollback of recently imposed restrictions following a spike in cases.

The state is making slight progress in the COVID-19 red zones.
Photo Credit: *ny.gov*

The Orange County COVID-19 map on Monday, Oct. 26.
Photo Credit: *Orange County*

The breakdown of active Rockland County COVID-19 cases on Monday, Oct. 26.
Photo Credit: *Rockland County*

Zak Failla

10/27/2020 7:30 a.m.

In recent weeks, state officials have been targeting COVID-19 “micro-clusters” after seeing cases spike - including on Long Island, in Rockland and Orange counties - in communities failing to adhere to the state’s virus mandates.

Earlier story - COVID-19: Cuomo Unveils New Strategy To Defeat Virus Amid Nationwide Spike In Cases

Through the new enforcement, those hot spots have all seen improvements, though they’re well above the rest of the state’s numbers.

In Rockland, the positivity rate has dropped from 9.77 percent during the week of Oct. 4 and Oct. 10, to 4.54 percent between Oct. 11 and Oct. 17. Its current seven-day rolling average is down to 4.08 percent.

In Orange County, the numbers dropped from 12.41 percent, to 4.62 percent, to 2.58 percent.

Earlier story - COVID-19: Rockland Cluster Communities Cited For Lack Of Compliance, State May Withhold Funds

In all of the “red zones,” the numbers fell from 6.99 percent to 5.05 percent, to 3.93 percent.

To get out of the red zone, regions need to remain with a positivity rate below 3 percent for at least 10 days.

“We have to continue to control the virus spread and why it’s important to have this threshold discussion,” Cuomo said during a COVID-19 briefing on Monday, Oct. 26. “You can control it … when you see it spreading, when you see small spreads, you have to stop them from becoming larger spreads, that’s what we call our ‘micro-cluster strategy.”

There have been 13,419 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Orange County, resulting in 505 virus-related deaths. There are currently 29 COVID-19 patients hospitalized with the virus and 16 cases are being investigated by the Department of Health.

A breakdown of COVID-19 cases in Orange County, by municipality on Monday, Oct. 26:

City of Newburgh: 1,765;
Palm Tree: 1,504;
City of Middletown: 1,365;
Wallkill: 1,068;
New Windsor: 1,058;
Newburgh: 903;
Montgomery: 739;
Monroe: 692;
Warwick: 687;
Goshen: 553;
Chester: 415;
Blooming Grove: 409;
Woodbury: 369;
Highlands: 288;
Wawayanda: 251;
Mount Hope: 218;
Cornwall: 195;
Hamptonburgh: 176;
City of Port Jervis: 170;
Crawford: 113;
Deerpark: 98;
Minisink: 92;
Greenville: 89;
Tuxedo: 85.

In Rockland, 226,483 COVID-19 tests have been administered, resulting in 17,760 confirmed cases. There are currently 915 active cases across the county, and 20 are hospitalized with the virus. There have been 684 COVID-19 fatalities since the pandemic began.

A breakdown of active COVID-19 cases in Rockland:

Spring Valley: 266;
Monsey: 244;
Suffern: 68;
New City: 60;
Pearl River: 34;
Pomona: 33;
Haverstraw: 29;
Nanuet: 25;
Garnerville: 24;
Stony Point: 24;
Valley Cottage: 14;
Tappan: 13;
Nyack: 13;
Blauvelt: 11;
Orangeburg: 9;
West Nyack: 9;
Congers: 9;
West Haverstraw: 8;
Piermont: 5;
Sloatsburg: 4;
Sparkill: 3;
Thiells: 3;
Tompkins Cove: 3;
Palisades: 2;
Hillburn: 2.

Statewide, there were 82,117 COVID-19 tests administered yesterday, with 1,191 (1.45 percent) testing positive. There are currently 1,059 COVID-19 patients hospitalized, up from 1,023 and there were 12 new virus-related fatalities.

Since the pandemic began, New York has administered 13,834,240 COVID-19 tests, with 496,655 testing positive. A total of 25,742 New Yorkers have died since mid-March.

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