Rockland Tops NY Counties In COVID-19 Outbreak: Report

Rockland County is on a new list in the new coronavirus pandemic: "Counties in Every State Where COVID-19 Is Growing the Fastest Right Now." The claim was made in an article published May 8 by 24/7 Wall St., an online news and opinion company.

According to the article, Rockland qualified because of these statistics:

Rockland County

• Average new daily cases per 100,000 in 7 days ending May 6: +50.9 (state: +22.1)
• Change in confirmed COVID-19 cases in Rockland, Apr. 30 to May 6: 11,708 to 12,144
• Change in confirmed COVID-19 cases in New York Apr. 30 to May 6: 304,372 to 321,192
• COVID-19 related deaths in Rockland in 7 days ending May 6: 46
• COVID-19 related deaths in New York in 7 days ending May 6: 1,324
• Total population: 323,686

Read the complete list here on 24/7WallSt.

What the list doesn't take into account is the enormity of New York's new coronavirus outbreak over the past two months.

Like the state's, Rockland's COVID-19 hospitalization rate has been dropping. So has its daily death toll.

Under New York state's guidelines for re-opening everything shut down due to the pandemic, there are seven benchmarks. Rockland had reached four of them as of May 11. SEE: Rockland Hits 4 Essential Goals For Re-opening The Economy.

The state's pandemic task force designated regions for the purpose of reopening the state's economy. Rockland is one of seven counties in the Mid-Hudson region, which as a whole has met five of the seven criteria set by the state.

Those benchmarks, created under guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control, are:

1. Hospitalization decline – 14-day decline based on 3-day average. Rockland has met. Mid-Hudson has met.
2. Decline in hospital deaths – 14-day decline based on 3-day average. Rockland has met. Mid-Hudson has not met.
3. New hospitalizations - under 2 people per 100,000 residents based on 3-day average. Rockland has not met. Mid-Hudson has not met.
4. Total beds available - have at least 30% total hospital beds available. Rockland has not met. Mid-Hudson has met.
5. ICU beds - 30% threshold of open beds. Rockland has met. Mid-Hudson has met.
6. Diagnostic Testing capacity - conduct 30 diagnostic tests for every 1,000 residents per month. Rockland has met. Mid-Hudson has met.
7. Tracing – have at least 30 contact tracers per 100k residents. Rockland has not met. Mid-Hudson is expected to meet.

As of May 11 there were 141 people hospitalized in the county with confirmed or suspected cases, and 576 Rockland residents had died from COVID-19 since the outbreak started.