Rockland Coronavirus Spike Worries Businesses

NYACK, NY — A recent jump in active cases of coronavirus has Rockland County in the news — and local businesspeople worried.

"A second shutdown before the end of 2020 will likely cause another wave of permanent business closures," said boutique owner Maria Luisa Whittingham.

Rockland has a 6.5 percent positivity rate, far higher than the state as a whole. The number of active cases jumped Wednesday to 813, a leap from 672 active cases Tuesday and four times the number as of Sept. 16. That includes 186 children. One person has died of COVID-19.

While the people with positive test results in the past two weeks are concentrated in Rockland's Ultra-Orthodox community, there are cases in every town, County Executive Ed Day said Wednesday. The worry is that with double-digit positivity rates, state officials will renew its pandemic restrictions.

"We are working to avoid a shutdown," Day said. "The issue has been clearly identified. To punish our local small businesses would be an absolute atrocity of epic proportions because they are doing the right thing."

Meanwhile, business owners continue to adjust. Whittingham has already consolidated her two boutiques, Maria Luisa and ML, into one store.

A business group, the Rockland Business Women's Network, is developing a county-wide online shopping event for December to help all local businesses across the county sell their products and services on line even if they don’t currently have that ability.

"Shutting down businesses across the county is a drastic measure, but if it is necessary to keep people safe and reduce the rate of infection, then I support it," said Risa Hoag, president of the business group. "We cannot operate as a society if people do not feel safe and if people continue to get infected."

Nyack Mayor Don Hammond said the village is low on infection and hospitalization rates because of stringent compliance with pandemic protocols. "Compliance with public health standards has protected our community and should prevent another round of lockdowns for now," he said.