Cuomo’s Thanksgiving Warning as Westchester Remains at 4% – Now has 6 Hot Spot Focus Zones

Cuomo’s Thanksgiving Warning as Westchester Remains at 4% – Now has 6 Hot Spot Focus Zones: At his Monday, November 23 press conference Governor Andrew Cuomo warned against COVID-fatigue and vaccination euphoria as the “high social season” of Thanksgiving, Chanukkah and Christmas approach. While the past two-weeks have seen a series of good news vaccination and COVID therapy reports from Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca, Cuomo suggested that it will take six months before the state population reaches critical mass.

Meanwhile, the holidays approach just as the state is experiencing COVID spikes that, he suggested, would likely worsen with increased social activity at Thanksgiving. All at a time, he stressed, when the state’s case load is already spiking. The governor out that New York COVID hospitalizations have increased from 1,200 to 2,700 over the past three weeks. And at the current rate, hospitalizations would more than double to 6,000 – even before factoring in the increased Thanksgiving social activity.

Statewide Positive Test Rate Approaches 3% Threshold

All future hospitalization forecasts begin with the all-important positive test rate. while New York’s rate remained relatively stable over the past week it remains on the threshold of the 3% that triggers new restrictions. New York State’s current 7-day rolling average remained flat at 2.89% last week compared to 2.86% the week of November 8-14. It was 1.95% the first week of November. At its peak, New York’s positive test rate was 50% but dropped to just 1% by Labor Day.

While the statewide average, outside of the state’s spiking COVID Focus Zones, is 2.24%, COVID watch experts are increasingly focused on the state’s Hot Spot Focus Zones. New York’s 7-day rolling average within its Focus Zones is 4.55%. That’s down from 4.89% the previous week but up from 3.44% for the first week of November.

Three percent is the state’s threshold to trigger Focus Zone status and their associated Hot Spot Cluster Action Initiative Roll Backs for non-essential business. The Initiative was developed in consultation with leading national public health experts—Dr. Noam Ross of EcoHealth Alliance, Dr. Michael Osterholm of the University of Minnesota and Former CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden.

Westchester’s Positive Test Rate Remains High, Now Has Six Hot Spot Focus Zones

New York’s problem is that the number of Focus Zones is increasing. Last week the Governor’s office listed twelve Hot Spot Focus Zones. This week there are twenty-one spanning the state from Erie County to Hampton Bays. Including six in Westchester County. While five of the six currently have Yellow Zone status with just one Orange Zone, all six zones, Cuomo reported today, are on track for moving to Orange Zone or Red Zone status. They include parts of Ossining that has a current 7-day rolling average positive test rate of 10.22%. Other Westchester Focus Zones located in parts of Tarrytown (8.27%), Port Chester (7.59%), Peekskill (7.15%), New Rochelle (5.68%) and Yonkers (4.11%) are not far behind. County-wide, Westchester’s 7-day rolling average positive test rate remained at 4% for the second consecutive week.

Bedford Playhouse Cancels all Up-coming In-theater events

Meanwhile, The Bedford Playhouse cancelled all up-coming in-theater events beginning with their triple-bill of Frozen, A Star is Born and Star Trek previously scheduled for Thanksgiving day. Stay posted on all Bedford Playhouse news and events on the new What To Do Mobile App.

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