Active Cases

It is concerning that the number of active cases continues to increase throughout Rockland and has significantly increased within two zip codes – Spring Valley and Monsey – within the Town of Ramapo. However, there are cases in every community in Rockland, and this should serve as a reminder to all residents of the need to stay at least 6 feet apart from other people in both indoor and outdoor spaces.

This social distancing should be practiced in combination with everyday preventive actions including:

• Wearing masks.
• Avoiding touching your face with unwashed hands.
• Staying home when sick.
• And frequently washing your hands with soap and water for 20 seconds or using hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol.

Our hospitalizations numbers are also slightly increasing but thankfully our hospitals have plenty of bed capacity, still well beyond the limits imposed by the Governor for reopening. I invite you to check out these numbers for yourself by visiting RocklandGov.com and following the link to our Dashboard Hub page. Most of these numbers are updated daily during the week, with the exception being the Active Case Map which is only updated on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

We are continuing to have daily conversations with the Governor’s Office, local officials, community, and religious leaders about this situation. I am relieved to share with you that NYS will be deploying 200 rapid testing machines to sites around the state including here in Rockland. We know that some of these have already arrived, along with additional test kits for local providers.

What this means is that we will be testing many more people in the coming days and weeks so we can pinpoint who is sick, determine who they may have exposed and then they will be quarantined to protect the health of our community and prevent further spread. More testing also means higher numbers of positive test results. But increased testing is only part of the solution.

We need compliance with, and we need enforcement of the governor’s executive orders. I have been and will continue to both privately and publicly urge local municipalities to utilize their employees such as building, code, and fire inspectors and police in educational efforts. It is my expectation that appropriate enforcement action will also be taken, as necessary. (i.e. Building or fire code violations, summonses, etc.)

During one of the Governor’s latest press conferences, he contended that this situation was caused by a lack of compliance, “because the local government failed to do its compliance job.” To be clear, the local government responsible for this type of enforcement and compliance is either a Town or a Village NOT the County.

It is specifically law enforcement agencies that are empowered by the Governor to enforce his Executive Orders. Rockland, unlike Nassau, for example, does not have a County Police Department. And we in county government do NOT have control or oversight of Town or Village PD’s.

However, I was happy to hear from the Town of Ramapo that they are stepping up their education and compliance efforts through in-person efforts of their Code officials and the Police Department. The Supervisor even stated they would fine businesses not in compliance with the Governor’s Orders.

We in county government will continue to work with all other levels of government and local community and religious leaders to get this message across. Together, we must focus all our energies on ensuring residents follow the commonsense precautions that limit the spread of this deadly disease.

The facts are that by and large there has been overall compliance as witnessed by the fact that 19 of our 26 zip codes have very few active cases. But I share your concerns and fears about being forced to shut down again locally due to these numbers and I have made it clear to the Governor and his staff that that is completely unacceptable. Their response to date has been they are solely focused on the increased numbers in Ramapo.

We are all working to avoid that, and I ask each and every resident to do their part. Now is not the time for complacency. We must all act to protect our families, friends, and neighbors.