The Inside Press

Magazines serving the communities of Northern Westchester

COVID-19

Westchester County Executive Addresses Studies to Help Identify COVID Hotspots; also Describes Hurdles to Overcome in Upcoming Election

by

In his weekly briefing Monday evening, County Executive George Latimer announced the Westchester County Department of Environmental Facilities is partnering with the City University of New York (CUNY) to study the wastewater at county treatment plants to better understand the impact of COVID-19. Latimer said the analysis could help in identifying hotspots before seeing a spike in Coronavirus cases.

“It is a wastewater treatment study to determine the incidence of COVID-19 in our wastewater,” Latimer explained. “What it is going through the sewage that’s generated by all of us. And there are ways to test that output from a community to determine what the incidence of COVID infection is and to identify and then address some of those areas.”

Latimer mentioned that this technology has been helpful in Europe and has now come to the United States.

“It’s another valuable tool in our toolkit, Latimer said, “Everything we’re doing anticipates that we’ll get a vaccine at some point, but until we have it, we don’t have direct tools that we can use to fight this disease. So, we use every other thing we can think of to be helpful.”

Voting Concerns/Challenges

In other news, the County Executive expressed that there may be some hurdles in the near future with elections amid the pandemic.

“Come this November with the presidential race, which is always the greatest turnout race in any four-year cycle, we face some very significant concerns about making sure that we have a smoothly run election,” he stated.

The county has already faced some difficulties in the June primary elections as school board elections and others were forced to be moved because of the pandemic.

“So, knowing that we had a difficult time in June, for a number of different reasons, some of which were outside of our control and some of which we can refine by the way we operate ourselves, we made an offer to the Board of Elections of different actions the county administration would take that we thought would be helpful,” Latimer said.

The offer from the County Executive is a “four-point offer.”  The first one he introduced would be helping with poll locations in the upcoming election.

“We offered to help the Board of Elections recruit additional polling place inspectors by working through that portion of the county workforce that will be not working on Election Day and therefore eligible to be poll inspectors,” saif Latimer.

He explained that there aren’t going to be as many poll inspectors because of the advanced age and fear of COVID-19. Latimer is also offering replacement polling sites, as some of the usual ones will be not accessible during the pandemic, such as those inside nursing homes and senior apartment buildings. He has offered to gather a bipartisan team to work with the County Board of Elections to help identify and secure alternate polling locations for November. Latimer also offered to help develop a marketing plan to promote early voting.

“We’ve had early voting in elections now in 2019, in the November elections, and then in the primaries of 2020 in June. Early voting has been embraced in Westchester County. We were the third most populated number of votes for early voting, and we’re probably about the eighth largest county. So, we outperformed a number of other countries that are much larger than we are in the state, and, as a percentage of turnout, highest in the state,” Latimer stated, “However, we can do better.”

He said the County is also prepared to assist with having temporary staffing to make sure that requests for absentee ballots, and then the ballots themselves, get mailed out in a sufficient time frame so that everybody has it well enough before the election.

“We’re going to try to be helpful, so when the November 3 election comes by, there will be the best possible result,” said Latimer

COVID Incidence

In the fifth month of quarantine, they continue to oscillate but the trend is the steady decline. According to Latimer on Monday, there are now 472 active cases of Coronavirus and there have been four straight nights without a fatality, a first to happen during the pandemic. There have been 374,827 tests in Westchester, which approaches almost 40% of the county’s population. Under 10% of all people tested have been tested positive, a major decline from its peak at about 30%.

“That’s a good sign,” Latimer noted, “That’s a sign the infection has not roared back and become what it was in March and early April.”

As reiterated time and again in previous briefings, Westchester County Executive George Latimer stressed that individuals must continue to be cautious and thorough. These times involve “individual sacrifice, individual modification…we’re in the heart of the summertime, wearing masks are not pleasant, but necessary. Social distancing: not the way we function as a society normally, but necessary. We have to beat this pandemic, we have to reopen our economy, but we don’t do it by gusting our way through it. We open our economy by prudent actions, public health actions, and we do them diligently and then we prepare for what we hope to be a better tomorrow.”

As Cases of COVID Dissipate, Westchester County Focuses on ‘Complicated’ Back to School Protocol

by

Continuing Precautions Urged as “We Adapt to the Strangeness”

In this week’s briefing on COVID-19, County Executive George Latimer delivered another encouraging message that the Coronavirus numbers “continue to show the dimension we’ve been talking about for quite a while.”

According to Latimer, 347,649, or 35%, of people in Westchester County have been tested for Coronavirus, and despite the rise in testing, numbers are at an all-time low of 467 active cases since the pandemic began.

“That’s a significant number,” he stated, “We’re seeing steadily every day 3,000 or 4,000 tests in Westchester County since testing is much easier to obtain now than it ever has been before.”

In Chappaqua, an earlier spike due to the Horace Greeley High School graduation and field day, has “run its course.” Now a month since the incident, there have been no new cases identified in the past week. The same goes for the 4th of July weekend. Now two weeks past the holiday, the period of incubation for the Coronavirus, there has been no spike in cases, which is a good sign, Latimer noted.

However, similar to last week’s briefing, the county executive stressed, “there is nothing to be overly confident about. I say that very dispassionately with a corporate mindset. We are doing well, but we’re not through the woods. We still have no understood vaccine to treat the disease. Nor do we have an antiviral treatment for the disease.”

He urged residents to wear masks, practice social distancing, wash and sanitize our hands, and refrain from activities that can put people in harm’s way.

In other news, the county has been having meetings for reopening schools across Westchester this fall, including K-12 and college to help the local education institutions meet protocols set down by the state and open safely.

“You can imagine each of those two different types of education has different challenges,” Latimer conveyed, “On the K-12 side, you’re dealing with children whose ability to follow certain restrictions and orders is much more difficult than older students,” he explained.

“When you get to the college level, you’re dealing with students who are on campus in a dorm setting, and that overnight residential setting crates other types of problems than in a K-12 situation. In working with each of those, we’re trying to put together a practical group of people to work with.”

As of now, Latimer reported a “working group” that has been developed for the local school districts will include the deputy commissioner of mental health, White Plains School Superintendent, and some others in the Department of Health.

“They’ll all be working as a task force with our local elementary schools to try to provide that assistance that the schools need from the county. Whether it’s the structure in contact tracing protocols, what to do in situations when someone in the school tests positive, or assisting in purchasing personal protective equipment, all of those things and many more are part of those efforts we’re in the process of serving.”

The school situation is very complicated, said Latimer, and in need of great vigilance. “We’re dealing with a public service that probably touches more homes than any other single one because the community involves the school and the homes of which students live in. This could be an area for the great spread of the disease if we’re not exceedingly careful.”

“Overall, we’re looking at trying to deal with this strange world and adapt to the strangeness of it. I think we’ve tried to do that effectively now into our fifth month.”

According to the County Executive, the governor will announce on August 7 whether schools will open up and if so, under what circumstances.

A Cautious Optimism Over ‘Diminished’ COVID-19 Cases Conveyed by Westchester County Executive George Latimer

by

A close and unrushed ‘listen’ to George Latimer’s most recent update this week on coronavirus in Westchester offered several reasons to stay at least cautiously optimistic that infection from coronavirus is “diminishing” across the county, including in Chappaqua in the two days preceding the July 6 briefing. Chappaqua experienced a recent spike–27 cases, including 21 in Chappaqua, were tracked to the New Castle hamlet in the last two weeks–but the infection may be leveling off thanks to cautionary measures that have included a mandatory quarantine of persons impacted.

While conveying a message of hope and positivity, Latimer also issued clear warnings for continued vigilance and compliance with recommendations (social distancing/mask wear/hand washing) against the coronavirus to make sure it stays that way.

The continuous decline for two and a half months in active cases has likely been due to the act of compliance with masks in public, stressed Latimer, Westchester’s County Executive who has been providing near daily updates streamed live on Facebook and shared later in a You Tube link. The full press briefing may be viewed here https://youtu.be/ys1l09q1Uks

Coronavirus battling measures included asking business and store owners to wear masks, “influencing society. Now, it has become much more of the norm than it ever was,” he said.

On July 6, Latimer reported 527 active cases of CoronaVirus within the county.

Between March 1 (a period commonly designated as the ‘beginning of the pandemic’) and July 6,  35,084 people tested positive for Covid-19. “However, percentage-wise, there has been a little over 1% of positives as of the night on July 5. In one day, only 41 people were found to have the virus after testing almost 4000 people– indicating the spread is diminishing.”

Compared to March or April, he explained, “arguably the height of the pandemic across America, there was as much as 30% of all people tested coming in positive. But as more testing is being conducted, the percentage of those who have the coronavirus has been substantially lowering”.

More Positive Findings for Westchester

  1. Fewer hospitalizations. In addition: as of July 5 too, 29% of Westchester county residents have been tested for Covid-19, “which again, is a huge number and much higher than in other jurisdictions.” There have been fewer hospitalizations too, he shared, with 61 people having been hospitalized as of Saturday, dropping from the 70 individuals reported a week ago.
  2. Zero fatalities the night of July 5. “To top off the relatively good news, there were no fatalities on the night of July 5 and only three deaths in the recent week, ameliorating from the 30-50 deaths per day a couple of months ago in America.”

Staying cautiously optimistic, Latimer conveyed that “the past week has seen a rise and fall in cases, from the recent Chappaqua outbreak, dating back to over two weeks ago; the rise has increased to 27 positive cases that tie back to the set of activities… that include a graduation drive in ceremony and a ‘field night’ event following the graduation, both in rather large gatherings and minimal masks and social distancing.”

“Of the 27 positive cases, 21 tracked to Chappaqua, three of them tracked to Mount Kisco, two track to Bedford, and one track to Pleasantville. “As of now, there have been no new cases in the last two days that are trackable to the Chappaqua spike. If so, it is thought to be leveling off,” Latimer said. “Keep in mind, if they caught COVID that night, they would have gone through two weeks without having shown symptoms…  Of course, it’s possible that if somebody caught it, and then was further infected later, there are still some ways that the Chappaqua spread may linger on longer.”

“I think we’ve had a good response at this particular outbreak,” continued the executive. “Nothing is perfect, but we’ve gotten substantial compliance. 80-85% of the people have responded… We seem to be in a pretty good place for having understood and dealt with it.”

As for the opening of Phase 4 this week (on July 7) in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, major changes are set “for allowable activity.

For outdoor and indoor arts entertainment, low-risk areas have been set to a limit of up to 50 people. As Latimer would elaborate, this would include “the traditional summer band concert in Scarsdale at Chase Park or the theatrical and concert performances that go on in the gazebo in Armonk.” Anything along these lines, while fitting the specific guidelines, will do.

As the last revealed phase of reopening, the governor still has not reopened amusement parks, health clubs, and gyms. “These will not be things that are going to be lifted in future phases; instead, there would be executive orders by the governor on that specific action or function that may happen at any point in time.”

Latimer’s briefings will continue once a week every Monday at 2 pm EST, as opposed to the daily updates Monday through Thursday, he said. Despite a recent uptick in numbers, the steady decrease throughout would mean “we would not need to do this on a regular basis,” he stated from the County Executive’s White Plains conference room.

Editor’s Note: Brian Zhang, a rising junior at Byram Hills High School, assisted in preparing this update, as a first assignment as a summer intern for the Inside Press.

 

Field Hall Announces Summer Grants with Focus on Helping Vulnerable Seniors and their Caregivers

by

The Field Hall Foundation announces $240,000 in new grants.  $190,000 has been awarded through its Summer 2020 grant cycle, and will be used to pilot, support and/or expand programs focused on the most basic needs of vulnerable seniors and their caregivers. 

Three full grants have been awarded to:

Family Services, Inc.                                                       

$45,000 – To pilot an Elder Abuse Intervention program which will provide prevention and intervention services for victims of elder abuse

Hudson River Housing, Inc.                                                              

$50,000 – To pilot an Elder Care Services Program that will help homeless and low-income seniors obtain and sustain stable housing

The Osborne Association                                                      

$50,000 – To support and expand their Elder Reentry Initiative in Dutchess County, which helps older, incarcerated adults successfully transition back into the community                             

Five smaller grants were awarded to:

Hillside Food Outreach, Inc.

$10,000 – To increase the amount of fresh fruits and vegetables they purchase and deliver, at no cost, to low-income seniors in Putnam and Westchester counties

Meals on Wheels of Poughkeepsie

$5,000 – To purchase new kitchen equipment that will allow them to meet the increased demand for home delivered meals

North East Community Council, Inc.

$10,000 – To expand their home-delivered food pantry services to older adults in the rural north east section of Dutchess County

Putnam County Office for Senior Resources

$15,000 – To provide free respite services to eligible spouses or relatives caring for older adults at home

WestFair Rides, Inc.

$5,000 – To provide older adults with free livery transportation to/from medical appointments when volunteer drivers are not available.

COVID-19 Emergency Relief grants, totaling $50,000, have also been awarded.  Funding focused primarily on senior food insecurity, personal protection equipment for nursing home staff, and telehealth equipment and services.  Grant recipients include:

Andrus on the Hudson Nursing Home, Bethel Springvale Nursing Home, Cabrini of Westchester Nursing Home, Catholic Charities, Dutchess Responds, EverCare Home Health Agency, Hillside Food Outreach, Maryknoll Sisters, Meals on Wheels of Hyde Park, Neighborhood House, New Jewish Home Sarah Neuman, North East Community Center, Pawling Resource Center, Putnam Community Cares, Putnam COVID-19 Response Fund, Ride Connect, Visiting Nurse Service Westchester, and WestFair Rides.

Going forward, an additional $50,000 has been added to the COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund for programs supporting seniors impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Since its inception in 2019, the Foundation has awarded more than $1 million in grants to improve the lives of older adults and their caregivers in Dutchess, Putnam and Westchester counties.  Letters of Inquiry are accepted on an ongoing basis.  For more information visit the Foundation’s website,  http://www.fieldhallfoundation.org

 

Ready to Open Pool Clubs Eager for a Green Light

by

Willowbrook, like other county and private pool clubs throughout the county, anticipates opening during Phase 4.

The soundtrack of a pool club consists of the following: wet flip flops, lifeguard whistles, kids asking for snack-bar money, parents saying no, but then giving in after the fifth ask and loud splashes following a cannonball.

Unfortunately, the sounds have been put on pause. Although summer has arrived and Coronavirus cases have declined, pool clubs in New York are still not open for the season.

We’re all looking for answers, but unfortunately so are those who are in charge of the clubs themselves. Harriet Engel has been a board member at Willowbrook Swim and Tennis Club for four years and is a long time member herself of 16 years. She recently spoke to Westchester County Executive George Latimer on the phone, who is also awaiting answers from the state, to discuss the status of the pool clubs.

“George Latimer said on this call that he strongly feels that the pools can be open safely and they have done that in other states…it’s just a matter of when and what specific restrictions are imposed when they can open.”

The reopening of pool clubs is part of the Phase 4 structure in relation to COVID-19, however it is unclear if that means county pools or private ones. But, county pools are preparing to open, which means so is Willowbrook.

“We are prepared to open…when we are given the green light. We’re ready to go,” Engel said, stating that they’ve had plumbers there and pools being filled and repainted.

Breathe Pilates and Yoga
ADVERTISEMENT

The question of snack bars, playgrounds and swim teams are all currently unanswered and not up to individual pool clubs but rather the state. However, tennis clubs have been open. At Willowbrook, although both pickleball and tennis courts are open for play, you can’t share balls and large clinics are not being held. With that being said, the Pros at the club are available for lessons if you are looking for something to get your kids out of the house.

That’s another thing. Kids have been cooped up for months inside their homes due to quarantine, so the opening of pools would be a great way to let them be outside and get out of the house. And with the cancellation of many sleepaway camps, families are now home with their kids with nothing to do. For those who are worried about social distancing and the travel of germs, no need to fear.

“The benefit of the pool clubs is that they are all open air…they say that being out in an open air environment is much safer because everything can circulate, so it seems like it’s a safe environment and plus we have a lot of deck space. So, we could allow the chairs to be more distanced from one another for people to social distance themselves on the deck,” Engel reassured.

And in terms of the swim team, although there is no concrete plan or set of guidelines to follow that have been provided just yet, there are some possible solutions.  For instance, separating kids into different age groups and capping the number of swimmers allowed in the pool at one time. Even though these potential implementations change one’s normal routine at the pool, it seems as if that might be the only way to get back in the water.

“It’s the price of being able to partake in an activity, safely, to keep yourself and others safe. That’s the name of the game. You want to be able to do all these things, but we’ve taken all these precautions so to do something in an unsafe manner just doesn’t make sense right now,” said Engel. “You would sort of destroy all the work that you’ve put in up until now.”