County Investigating COVID-19 Cases Linked to Greeley Graduation
The Westchester County Department of Health is investigating new COVID-19 cases in New Castle stemming from last week’s Horace Greeley High School graduation.
In a Saturday morning post, town Supervisor Ivy Pool stated that the Department of Health has confirmed that there are cases that can be traced to the June 20 graduation.
While there had been speculation on local social media posts on Friday that there had been 30 or more positive tests of residents, Pool mentioned that number is erroneous and likely to be in the “single digits.”
“(The county’s) investigation is ongoing and their contact tracers are actively engaged at this time,” Pool stated. “Because they are still investigating, and community members are still awaiting test results that “there is not a definitive answer as to the number of people infected.”
The county Department of Health did not respond to The Examiner’s inquiry Friday afternoon about the validity of the claims. However, the county confirmed yesterday there are six active COVID-19 cases in the Town of New Castle as of Friday, up from five earlier in the week. Typically, there has been a lag of several days from the time that tests are administered until the county’s statistics are updated.
Deputy Supervisor Jeremy Saland took to the New Castle Community Discussions Facebook page Friday night to tamp down fears that there was a potential COVID-19 outbreak.
Saland said that while the number of cases could fluctuate from day to day or hour to hour, the numbers that were raised by social media posters were inconsistent
He also stated the county Department of Health would contact the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) should there be a need but has not done so.
Town and county officials urged residents to continue to wear a mask, practice social distancing and to wash hands.
This article will be updated when new verifiable information becomes available.
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/
