Mid-Hudson Nearly 2 Weeks Away From Reopening

HUDSON VALLEY, NY — Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster and Westchester counties are nearly two weeks away from reopening their economies.

The Mid-Hudson region has met five of seven criteria for phase 1, and has gotten closer to meeting a sixth benchmark. However, the region must also show a 14-day decline in the number of daily deaths from COVID-19 — and so far the daily death toll has only dropped two days in a row.

The state's new regional monitoring dashboard provided a measurement for the first time on Tuesday for that benchmark, reporting 2/69 for the Mid-Hudson. The first number represents the number of consecutive days of decline in the three-day rolling average of daily hospital deaths. The second number represents maximum daily increase in the three-day rolling average of new hospital deaths that the region has experienced.

On another criterion, the Mid-Hudson moved closer to the benchmark of having fewer than 2 new COVID-19 hospitalizations daily per 100,000 residents. According to Tuesday's data on the state's regional monitoring dashboard, the Mid-Hudson region reported 2.38 per 100,000, a sharp decline from last week, when the region's reported average was 4.74 new COVID-19 hospitalizations for every 100,000 residents.

So far, three regions have met the seven metrics necessary to reopen on May 16: the Finger Lakes, Mohawk Valley and Southern Tier.

Regions that hit all seven goals can begin opening businesses for phase one, which includes construction; manufacturing and wholesale supply chain; retail for curbside pickup and drop-off or in-store pickup; and agriculture, forestry and fishing.

The second phase of reopening will include professional services, finance, insurance, retail, administrative support and real estate/rental leasing. The third phase includes restaurants/food services and hotels/accommodations, while the fourth phase includes arts, entertainment, recreation and education.

At his Tuesday briefing, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said the outbreak continues to lessen in New York as the number of new hospitalizations and new deaths continue to drop.

Cuomo urged federal lawmakers considering more stimulus for the American economy to avoid past mistakes seen during the Great Recession. He called for "Americans First" legislation that he said would protect workers by requiring companies that take bailout money to rehire the same number of workers they had before the new coronavirus took hold.

"To get this economy back up and running we're going to need an intelligent stimulus bill," he said.

Meanwhile, New York is now up to 100 cases of a pediatric inflammatory syndrome linked to the new coronavirus, the governor said. The illness has taken the lives of three young New Yorkers, including a 5-year old in New York City, a 7-year old in Westchester County and a teenager in Suffolk County.

"We have been behind this virus every step of the way and even as we are now beginning to see the numbers on the decline, the virus is still surprising us," Cuomo said. "Initially we thought COVID-19 didn't affect children, and now we're dealing with a disturbing issue where we have about 100 cases of an inflammatory disease in children that seems to be created by the virus. New York is leading the investigation of this situation and we are advising all hospitals and medical providers to prioritize diagnostic testing for any children that are displaying symptoms of this illness."

He directed hospitals statewide to prioritize COVID-19 testing for children displaying symptoms similar to an atypical Kawasaki disease and toxic shock-like syndrome.

New Yorkers should seek immediate care if a child has:

• Prolonged fever (more than five days)
• Difficulty feeding (infants) or is too sick to drink fluids
• Severe abdominal pain, diarrhea or vomiting
• Change in skin color - becoming pale, patchy and/or blue
• Trouble breathing or is breathing very quickly
• Racing heart or chest pain
• Decreased amount of frequency in urine
• Lethargy, irritability or confusion