Area Ready to Advance to Phase 4 as State’s Data Looks Encouraging

Phase 4 of the state’s reopening plan begins locally on Tuesday as COVID-19 infection rates remain at or near 1 percent and hospitalizations and deaths continue at the lowest levels of the crisis.

Moving onto the fourth and final phase will allow for low-risk indoor and outdoor arts and entertainment, higher education and media production, such as the filming of movies or commercials, and professional sports without fans, according to the state.

Gyms and movie theaters, which were originally thought to be eligible to operate in Phase 4, will remain closed until health officials can gain more clarity about whether they are safe to operate, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday.

On Sunday, there were 518 positives from 54,328 tests administered in New York, a 0.95 percent rate, making it the lowest in the nation. There were 817 hospitalizations and nine deaths.

Cuomo said that earlier in the crisis it seemed “unimaginable” that the number of deaths from COVID-19 would get below 10 anytime soon. At its worst, the state saw 800 virus-related deaths in one day in April.

Since starting the phased reopening on May 15, the percentage of positive cases has declined from 5.9 percent. The statewide percentage has not exceeded 1.4 percent since June 4, with the transmission rate as low as 0.8 percent on June 28.

“Every expert warned us on the reopening that you would see the numbers start to go up because you were increasing activity,” Cuomo said. “Our premise was you could moderate the activity so you could start the reopening, but monitor the number of cases and control the phased reopening so you could keep the number of cases down.”

In the seven-county Mid-Hudson region, which includes Westchester and Putnam, the infection rate on Sunday was 0.9 percent. Putnam County saw just one positive in 217 tests while Westchester had 41 positive results in 3,639 tests or 1.1 percent.

Westchester County Executive George Latimer said Monday there were only three deaths in the county during the past week, reaching 1,427 since March. COVID-19-related hospitalizations fell to 61 as of Saturday, down 10 from early last week.

The only drawback was an uptick in active cases to 527. Last week that number had decreased to as low as 471.

Latimer said the Horace Greeley High School graduation cluster could account for some of that increase, but expected that number to level off. A problem sign would be if cases were on the rise in multiple locations in the county rather than from a known incident.

“There’ve been no new cases the last two days that are traceable to the Chappaqua spike,” Latimer said.

Officials at the local, county and state level have repeatedly urged residents to continue with face coverings, social distancing and hand washing

“As we enter into Phase 4, it is important to keep up with the safety precautions that have gotten us this far,” said Putnam County Health Commissioner Dr. Michael Nesheiwat. “Putnam residents have listened to the guidance and have put in a lot of hard work, but we are not out of the woods just yet.

The Putnam County Department of Health last Thursday issued a recommendation for residents to avoid travel to the 16 states that have been identified as requiring a quarantine upon entering the tristate area. Those states now include California, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada and Tennessee. The states announced the previous week that remain on the list Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and Utah. Washington state, which appeared on the original list, has been removed.

Nesheiwat said anyone found violating the New York travel-related quarantine order risk fines and potential loss of COVID-19 sick benefits. Violators may be subject to a judicial order and mandatory quarantine as well. A first violation could result in a $2,000 fine and could increase to $10,000 for subsequent violations or exposures.

School Reopening Uncertainty

Cuomo said Monday there has been no decision whether schools will reopen to in-person instruction in September. Each one of the roughly 700 districts in the state is expected to submit a reopening plan this summer.

Many local school districts have been discussing multiple scenarios for the fall among their own communities and regionally, including hybrid plans that would see students alternate between in-class and remote instruction. However, multiple school officials have mentioned they have been waiting for state guidance to firm up local plans.

The Board of Regents had announced last month that it would release its guidance on or about July 13.

Cuomo said the state would like to see students return to class but it is too early to make that call.

“We want kids back in school for a number of reasons but we’re not going to say children should go back to school until we know it’s safe,” he said.