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The Rockland County Health Department announced during a press conference at the county Fire Training Center in Pomona on Wednesday, July 1, that it is working to contain the cluster which has been traced to a house party in mid-June at a home in Clarkstown.
Rockland Health Commissioner Dr. Patricia Schnabel Ruppert said the party attendees were in their early 20s, and the party's host was experiencing symptoms when the party was held.
Eight other people at the party have tested positive for the virus to date, she added.
The eight are allegedly not cooperating with the department who is working to trace their contacts in an effort to reach others who may have been infected, the health department said.
Ruppert said their refusal to help will lead to subpoenas compelling them to cooperate and added they face $2,000-a-day fines for not doing so.
"People hang up, or don't answer their phones," when contacted by the department, Ruppert said. "This must stop."
She reminded all that COVID-19 was not over and people are still at risk.
On Tuesday, June 30, the county announced its 668th death related to COVID-19, the first in more than a week.
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