Coronavirus: One Year Later In Westchester County

NEW ROCHELLE, NY — One year ago Wednesday a second confirmed case of the new coronavirus was confirmed in New York — a New Rochelle man in his 50s.

At the time — March 3, 2020 — Gov. Andrew Cuomo confirmed the man was in serious condition at a New York City hospital, after having been treated at NewYork-Presbyterian Lawrence Hospital in Bronxville.

The news of the case in New Rochelle came just one day after the first confirmed case in the entire state was announced: a 39-year-old woman who was a health care worker living in New York City.

Those cases were just the beginning of a rapidly changing landscape that included containment zones, quarantining, isolation, mask mandates, working from home, social distancing, business closings, remote learning, micro-clusters — and more than 515,000 Americans dead.

In the year that has passed, New Rochelle, which was the state's first coronavirus hot spot, has seen 9,767 confirmed cases of the virus.

Westchester County has had 108,193 confirmed cases with 2,105 deaths. Almost 2.1 million tests for the coronavirus have been administered in the county.

New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson recalled answering his cell phone the morning of March 3, 2020.

It was a colleague in New York City government, who told him the news of a New Rochelle lawyer who worked in Manhattan testing positive for the coronavirus.

"Until that moment," Bramson told Patch, "the virus had seemed a remote problem. Suddenly it was here. In New Rochelle."

And just like that, he said, "our little corner of the world changed dramatically."

On March 12, a containment zone was put into place in a 1-mile radius of Young Israel of New Rochelle on North Avenue. That was where the New Rochelle man and his family attended religious services, coming into contact with hundreds of people.

As part of being in the containment zone, large gathering places were prohibited from opening, including three public schools and a private school, the Ursuline School. All schools in the neighboring Tuckahoe district were closed as well. The containment area was to be in effect until March 25.

Glen Island, a Westchester County park, was taken over as a mass testing site. The Westchester County Center was turned into a field hospital by the state. Thankfully, the beds that were created were not needed.

Soon after New Rochelle was thrust into the spotlight, it became clear that the virus was not going to be a localized situation.

Westchester County Executive George Latimer said the speed by which the virus was being transmitted was shocking.

"To go from nothing to 100 cases," he said in an interview with Patch. "It could have been anywhere on the east coast."

Latimer said dealing with the pandemic was a humbling experience.

"People get into public office and you tend to see the power you have within the position you have," he said. "But you realize the limits of your power in the face of a pandemic."

Latimer said that dealing with a major health crisis was not about ideology, but about practicality.

He said people were out of work, businesses were going under and there weren't enough masks or personal protective equipment to go around.

"It was all about the practical things," Latimer said. "You are not necessarily defeating the virus."

He said the people of Westchester have sacrificed a lot over the past year, giving up major religious ceremonies, ethnic events and separation from friends.

Now there's hope on the horizon, with the county having come out of a spike of infections from end-of-the-year holidays, coupled with the ever-increasing availability of vaccines.

Latimer said that it was important to keep in mind that a lot of people survived something that many did not.

He said a pandemic can happen again; there could be a worse disease in the future.

"Hopefully, we've learned something and will prepare for it," Latimer said. "We will remember that it happened."