Westchester County Executive George Latimer took to the podicum on August 9 to give his COVID update and said, “These numers are not encouraging. I have been happy to tell you encouraging news in the past, but in the world of straightofrardness the numbers are not good, but we are not yet in a crisis situaiton.”
The numbers, as of August 8 were that Westchester County had 1827 active COVID cases, and 51 hospitalizations. In June, Westchester had 175 cases and 26 hospitalizations. In January, the number were 11,500 cases, ten times the number of cases on Aug 8.
Westchester County also has 80.9% of their population over the age of 18 vaccinated and 70% of all residents are vaccinted, including children who can’t get vaccinated. Westchester County has the highest percentage of residents vaccinated then neighboring counties, including Putnam, Rockland and the Bronx.
“The COVID crisis has come back to the top of our concern. In June we were headed in a positive direction, that has now turned around significantly,” said Latimer. “Within the month, children will be going back to school in some capacity, and in October we will be going back indoors for more activities.
Latimer said that he will be speaking with all of the 44 school districts in Westchester to discuss their reopening plans. This year, New York State Department of Health will not advise school districts on re-opening, leaving the decision up to each individual school district, who will consult with the Westchester County Health Department. “There is no madate for school districts this year,” said Latimer. “Vaccines and masks are at the top of the list of decisions to make.”
Latimer also explained that the County Health Commissioner Dr. Sherlita Amler, and the County Department of Health, have the power to madate COVID policy for residents, but right now, Westcheter County government is waiting to see what the next few weeks data provides. “We are looking at an increase in infection rates but we are only at one-tenth of prior peaks. We know that any mandate will have a pushback and some people don’t want to be told what to do. We are not looking to create conflict in people’s lives but there are times when individual rights have to be subordinated to others rights. We are not talking about lockdowns but the power does exist with with County Health Commissioner. If we see infections rise, then all options are on the table,” said Latimer.
