Attack New Coronavirus Clusters In Orange, Rockland: Cuomo
HUDSON VALLEY, NY — New York health officials have identified coronavirus clusters in 20 neighborhoods, and three in the Hudson Valley lead that list.
In the group of ZIP codes, the coronavirus positivity rate is 5 percent, five times higher than the state as a whole. The 20 areas include two in Rockland County, one in Orange County, one in Westchester, and the rest in Brooklyn and Queens. In fact, the Orange and Rockland ZIP codes lead the state's list of the 20 neighborhoods where the coronavirus is most prevalent.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo vowed in a news briefing Tuesday morning to aggressively target those ZIP codes.
"These are embers that are starting to catch fire in dry grass," he said.
There's already been a lot more testing going on to deal with what Cuomo said is the largest cluster that state officials have addressed as of Day 213 of the coronavirus outbreak in New York. State officials rushed rapid testing kits and test analysis kits to the most affected ZIP codes.
"When you have that level of data you can really identify what's going on," he said. "You can identify hot spots very quickly and then you can target those hot spots."
Fueled by the spike in coronavirus cases in two of its seven counties, the Hudson Valley region has a positivity rate that is twice as high as the state as a whole.
Cuomo acknowledged an overlap with large Orthodox Jewish communities.
"That is a fact. This is a public health concern for their community. It is also a public health concern for surrounding communities," Cuomo said. "I have said since day 1 these rules apply to all religions ... I don't care what your political opinion is. I don't care what your religious opinion is."
State pandemic law mandates a cap on religious ceremonies and services, limiting them to 50 percent of the capacity of the building.
"Look at the pictures of religious gatherings with hundreds," Cuomo said. "How did it happen? There wasn't compliance, and the city didn't enforce it. And Orange County didn't enforce it. And Rockland County didn't enforce it."
Cuomo said state officials have shared all this data with the local governments.
"I get in some areas there's religious sensitivity," he said. "They must respond. They have been very uneven across the state. They have to respond."
Cuomo said he was going to be meeting with religious leaders of the Orthodox communities in Brooklyn, Orange and Rockland as soon as a virtual meeting can be set up, targeting Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday in between religious holidays. Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur have ended and Sukkot is about to begin.
"If you do not now attack and control the cluster, you have community spread. That's why I want people to wake up," he said.
SEE: Coronavirus: Rockland, Orange County Execs On Weekend Spikes
This article originally appeared on the New City Patch
