Rockland Coronavirus Update: 2,773 Active Cases

ROCKLAND COUNTY, NY — January was a lethal month for the coronavirus in Rockland County, with 65 deaths.

In 2020, 771 people died of COVID-19 in Rockland. As of Feb. 1, the death toll from the coronavirus in the county was 836.

There were 78 people hospitalized in the county with confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19 as of Monday. County health officials were tracking 2,773 active cases.

Rockland's 7-day rolling positivity average was 5.7 percent as of the 1st. It ranked third in the Hudson region for positivity rates, behind Dutchess and Orange counties.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said at a briefing Tuesday that state health officials were trying a pilot program for mass vaccination sites in communities with the highest long-term positivity rates. He said the first site would be at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.

According to the state's dashboard, the highest positivity rates over the past seven days were in Hamilton County, at 13 percent; Franklin County, 7.6 percent; and Fulton County, 7.5 percent.

Rockland County Executive Ed Day has argued for weeks that Rockland, with a positivity rate that hit

The supply of coronavirus vaccine comes from the federal government and is extremely limited — leading to outcries across the country. More than 49.9 million vaccine doses have been distributed and 32.2 million administered in the United States as of Monday afternoon, according to the CDC. More than 26 million people have received one dose, and more than 5.9 million have received two.

In seven weeks, New York has received 1.5 million first doses and has administered 91 percent of them, Cuomo said Tuesday.

New York is allocated about 300,000 doses a week, though the Biden administration has promised to raise that by 20 percent for the next three weeks.

More than 7 million New Yorkers are now eligible for the vaccine. Eligible groups include doctors, nurses and health care workers, people age 65 and over, first responders, teachers, public transit workers, grocery store workers, public safety workers, and now restaurant workers, taxi drivers, and residents of facilities for the developmentally disabled.

Cuomo said he and other governors have called on the federal government to use emergency powers to help pharmaceutical companies increase production.

"Eligibility without availability is not only illusory, it's counter-productive because it creates anxiety," Cuomo said at his briefing Tuesday.