Statement from County Executive Ed Day
Good news to share to begin today, New York State has informed us that beginning at 12:00 PM on Tuesday, January 4, 2022, a state operated COVID-19 testing site will open at the Patriot Hills Golf Club, 19 Club House Lane, Stony Point, NY. Regular operating hours will be Monday – Saturday from 8 AM – 6 PM and testing is BY APPOINTMENT ONLY. My thanks to Supervisor Jim Monaghan for his work helping to secure this new testing site, all of Rockland County appreciates it.
The tests provided at New York State operated test sites are not rapid tests with immediate results but are PCR tests requiring samples to be sent offsite for processing. Appointments at the Patriot Hills Golf Club are not yet available but will eventually be available through this webpage: https://coronavirus.health.ny.gov/covid-19-testing
To find other COVID-19 test sites near you please visit: https://coronavirus.health.ny.gov/find-test-site-near-you
We were notified by New York State this morning that Rockland will be receiving 14,614 over the counter test kits by the end of the day tomorrow for use by school districts. This is on top of the 13,000 kits that we received earlier this month and already distributed to schools.
We have been told that we will continue to receive test kits from the State on a regular basis and that future deliveries will be able to be used by other populations. We will provide additional information on these test kits as it becomes available. We remain committed to getting these at-home test kits into the hands of the residents who need them as soon as we can.
Now, in terms of our local numbers, active cases are still increasing and have reached a new high of 8,665. The good news aspect of this is that our hospitalizations have not increased at a commensurate rate; they’re actually down from two days ago and stand at 77 confirmed cases today. For comparison our hospitalizations are currently 28% lower than they were in January (107 confirmed cases on January 10, 2021) at the prior peak of this disease and 73% lower than they were in April of 2020 (248 confirmed cases and 39 persons under investigation hospitalized on April 21, 2020).
The Rockland County Department of Health (RCDOH) has submitted an application for $1 million in grant funding from the $65 million announced by Governor Kathy Hochul to help with the costs associated with administering vaccines and boosters and enforcing the mask-or-vaccine mandate for indoor public places.
Given the resource support now being assured by the State, RCDOH staff will begin visiting indoor public places next week to educate business owners and managers about the New York State mask-or-vaccine mandate. Thanks to this State support, we can have our willing staff work overtime so as to not take away from the other vital efforts of the Health Department like our vaccination program.
We continue to encourage eligible residents to make an appointment to get vaccinated or receive a booster dose. To make an appointment at one of our Department of Health’s upcoming clinics at Building A in Pomona, the Martin Luther King Multipurpose Center in Spring Valley or the Palisades Center Mall in West Nyack visit our COVID-19 webpage: https://rocklandgov.com/departments/health/coronavirus-covid-19/
As we prepare to celebrate the New Year with family and friends, the Rockland County Department of Health continues to urge everyone to follow the CDC’s recommended public health prevention measures to help slow the spread of COVID-19:
- Wear a mask that fully covers your nose and mouth and secure it under your chin when indoors.
- Stay 6 feet away from others not within your household.
- Avoid crowds and poorly ventilated spaces. If the weather permits and it’s not too cold, open the windows and door for more ventilation.
- Cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze by using your elbow or a tissue.
- Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.
- Stay home if you are sick.
I encourage everyone to take preventative action to protect themselves, their families, and our community from the continued spread of COVID-19. But I want to remind everyone that this is not March or April of 2020, we have learned a lot about this disease and have far better treatments today than we did at the beginning of the pandemic. Rocklanders will overcome this challenge just as we have every other hurdle we have faced. I wish you all a Happy and Healthy New Year.