The Rockland County Health Department is struggling to contain a new cluster of coronavirus cases that may have started at a large party held in June. NBC New York’s Sarah Wallace reports.
What to Know
- Officials are resorting to subpoenas to compel people in Rockland County to cooperate with contact tracers as they probe a new virus cluster
- Sources tell News 4 they're aware of at least three large parties in Rockland in recent weeks; one was held by someone with COVID June 13
- The state Department of Health is also investigating a separate possible cluster in Westchester County linked to a drive-in graduation ceremony
Health officials are investigating a new cluster of eight or more COVID-19 cases in Rockland County tied to a large party earlier this month, but they're running into trouble with contact tracing because people refuse to cooperate.
The county plans to resort to subpoenas, as it did during its measles outbreak some years ago, to compel people to work with contact tracers as they work to contain a new potential outbreak. It may mark the first time in the tri-state area that such a measure has been taken over COVID contact tracing noncompliance.
That party linked to the new potential cluster was the first of three large parties in Rockland County in the last two weeks. It was hosted June 13 by someone in New City who was sick with coronavirus at the time, sources say. County officials said Wednesday that the host knew they were symptomatic and held the party anyway.
Officials trying to contain further spread say multiple people who attended one or more of the three parties have refused to cooperate with contact tracers. That strategy, along with testing, is critical to mitigating future spread, officials say.
County officials said Thursday that after issuing eight subpoenas, all eight people were now cooperating with contact tracers.
Daily Percentage of Positive Tests by New York Region
Gov. Andrew Cuomo breaks the state into 10 regions for testing purposes and tracks positivity rates to identify potential hotspots. Here's the latest tracking data by region and for the five boroughs. For the latest county-level results statewide, click here
Source: ny.gov
Local
Rockland County has the highest percentage of daily positive tests (1.2 percent as of Wednesday) of all seven counties in New York's Mid-Hudson region. While that is still a low number compared with the metrics seen earlier in the crisis, health officials are leery it could quickly surge upward -- especially if they can't find the emerging positive cases early and isolate them through tracing efforts.
The rolling seven-day average of positive daily tests for the Mid-Hudson region is at 1 percent, the same as the rest of the state. That seven-day average isn't available to a county level on Gov. Andrew Cuomo's website. Mid-Hudson, which is now in Phase III of the reopening process and recently resumed indoor dining, also includes Westchester County, the source of a separate new cluster.
That cluster may be linked to an infected student from Florida who attended a Horace Greeley High School drive-in graduation ceremony on June 20 in Chappaqua. Health officials ask anyone who attended that graduation ceremony to self-quarantine until July 5 -- and to answer the phone if someone from the state's contact tracing team calls.
New York has been the nation's most-impacted COVID state by far, with nearly 400,000 confirmed cases and almost 25,000 confirmed virus fatalities, though officials acknowledge both tolls are likely much higher.
