Mayor's Message: Covid-19 Update November 20, 2020
Posted on: November 20, 2020 - 10:33pm
Hi everyone,
The past week has been a bit of a roller coaster as we watch the number of Covid-19 cases go up in our community, the County, the State, across the country and around the world. Many of us have reviewed, weighed and ultimately cancelled plans to be with family over Thanksgiving. For my family it was one of the most heart wrenching decisions we’ve made in a long time but we feel it was the right call (more about this later …). If you’ve made a similar choice, know that you are not alone and we are commiserating with you.
The Governor’s Zones
At the end of October, Governor Cuomo announced a Covid-19 Cluster Zone Initiative, which is meant to target geographic regions with higher rates of transmission in order to contain the spread of the virus. The intention is to have a surgical strategy, as opposed to the broad brush approach taken earlier in the year. Each successive Cluster Zone tier comes with a new set of restrictions. An explanation of the yellow, orange and red zones and of the related restrictions can be found HERE and the metrics being used to make zone determinations can be found HERE. While a number of factors are being taken into account, one of the key indicators is the percentage of positive cases in relation to the total number of tests taken in a given area.
Yesterday, the Governor declared a “yellow zone” in several new Westchester County locations, including some close to us: Tarrytown/Sleepy Hollow, as well as parts of Yonkers, New Rochelle, Ossining and Peekskill. The Port Chester cluster is now designated as an orange zone. For the most current view of the cluster maps you can click HERE.
As I look at these patterns, the upward trend is daunting, but I want to believe we can hold off on stricter measures through vigilance and good practices.
HoH Cases
In my last Mayor’s Message (which you can find HERE) there is a short history of the cases by month in the Village. Today, the Covid-19 map from the County shows 21 active cases, all of which are from November. A total of 179 cases have been reported in the Village since March. We are still in the lowest quartile of municipalities in Westchester reporting cases and we now have the 9th lowest number of total reported cases out of 44 municipalities.
Due to the reporting lag I’ve mentioned before, about 8 of the cases that are showing up on our map are already out of quarantine (they date from more than 14 days ago) and will be removed from the active count within a few days. However, there may be additional cases that have not yet appeared in the system. Among our current cases, most are clustered at a few different addresses (i.e. indicating that several members of the same family are positive). This suggests that, unlike earlier in the year, right now the main conduit for transmission is small clusters of people, and especially families. All of this has implications for this coming week when Thanksgiving gatherings will be taking place.
Tough Choices
Like many of you, my husband and I were excited to see our children for Thanksgiving. We had already agreed with one son who is all the way across the country that he should stay put and avoid travel, but we were looking forward to seeing the other. Just yesterday he learned that one of his roommates tested positive. The roommate is asymptomatic, feels totally fine and is isolating, but instead of flying east, the protocols dictate that our son must enter quarantine immediately. Even if he ultimately tests negative, he will have been directly exposed to someone who tested positive and therefore can’t leave his house until the 14 days of quarantine are up. As of yet our son’s results aren’t in, and a contact tracer hasn’t called him to provide any guidance, but we know what he needs to do. We’ve called the airline and rebooked his flight for the December holiday (right now airlines are very flexible and there was no cost). We are incredibly sad about not seeing our son next week but there really was no other responsible choice to make.
In case any of you are going through this, believe me I know it’s agonizing … your mind races to find ways to make the situation work out and you are in denial because you desperately want a different outcome. In a strange twist, our son (who would have been flying tonight) had an earlier negative test in hand because he wanted to take advantage of the “test out” quarantine option (explained in detail in my last message). Had he boarded a plane this evening he would have been able to show the required documentation needed to fly but it would have been absolutely the wrong choice! Families all over our country are struggling with these types of decisions and my plea to all of you is to err on the side of being responsible, however hard that might be. For us, Thanksgiving this year will be “à deux,” with the addition of Paul the Cat - we plan to enjoy the company of our sons over zoom instead.
Our County Executive, Governor Cuomo, many of his fellow Governors and the CDC have warned that this year Thanksgiving has the potential to exacerbate the already ghastly impact of the pandemic. The CDC provides some practical guidelines on what is considered low vs. high-risk holiday activity which you can review HERE. The consistent message is to keep celebrations small and intimate and to plan family zoom toasts instead.
Doing Your Part
If (like my son), you’re pretty sure you’ve been exposed but a contact tracer hasn’t called to give you instructions yet, please behave as if you’ve actually been exposed – get tested, stay at home, inform anyone you in turn might have exposed, and suggest they stay home too. And if a contact tracer does call, please be as co-operative as you can.
To get a free test you can call the New York State Hotline to schedule an appointment: (888) 364-3065, or click HERE for the online assessment tool to help schedule an appointment, or HERE for more information. If you go to a test site run by New York State, there is never any charge for your test. If you go to a test site operated by municipalities, private companies including pharmacies, and medical practices or not-for-profit organizations, check with the testing site and your insurer in advance of being tested to confirm whether you will be responsible for any fees associated with your test. More resources are available on the County site (see HERE).
Right now we all need to protect one another by following the basic protocols that have guided us over the past few months and that we know work (see HERE for a reminder). We can contain this virus if we take care of one another.
Do stay safe!
Feel free to reach out to me if you have specific questions, concerns or stories to share: mayor@hastingsgov.org
Sincerely,
Nicola Armacost
Mayor