SECOND COVID-19 CASE SHUTS SCHOOL DISTRICT
Wallkill cancels classes until Monday after Shawangunk man tests positive
A second case of the novel coronavirus known as COVID-19 has been confirmed in Ulster County, the County Executive’s Office said Wednesday, and the Wallkill school district announced it will be closed Thursday and Friday because the diagnosed person has been in “close contact” with a district student and district employee.
County Executive Pat Ryan said at a press conference Wednesday afternoon at the Ulster County Law Enforcement Center in Kingston that the patient is a male senior citizen who lives in the town of Shawangunk and that the three people who live with the man include a Wallkill school district student and employee.
The man was tested for the virus at a Crystal Run Healthcare facility in Orange County, Ryan said. “Our arbitrary county borders are not honored by these sorts of things, and we are coordinating closely” with Orange County officials, he said.
Ryan said the Shawangunk man’s case is not serious enough to require hospitalization and that he’s under home quarantine for 14 days. The executive said three family members who live with the man have not shown any symptoms.
Ulster County Health Commissioner Dr. Carol Smith said at the press
conference that the man is presumed to be stable and is being followed over the phone by public health nurses.
Ryan said it’s not clear how the man contracted the virus and that he has no recent history of international travel. Ryan said the possibility that the Shawangunk resident “commutes in and out of [Ulster] County is being investigated.”
The man has not had contact with the county’s other COVID-19 patient, who lives in the town of Rochester, Ryan said.
The Wallkill school district said in a letter on its website Wednesday that all of its buildings will be disinfected during the brief shutdown, and that extracurricular, evening and weekend activities have been canceled through Sunday.
The district said it plans to reopen schools Monday.
Ryan said he is in daily contact with the leaders of all school districts in the county who are considering the possibility of having to institute “work-remote and teach-remote types of plans.” He said Ulster BOCES is taking the lead with the school districts.
Ryan also said the county is maintaining a 12-hour-per-day emergency operations center at the Law Enforcement Center, which enables “leadership for all relevant county departments ... to make decisions much more rapidly with a common situational picture, which is obviously critical.”
“That has been a huge plus for us to be able to respond more effectively,” he said.
Ryan said the emergency operations center has the capacity to operate 24 hours a day if necessary.
On Sunday, Ryan announced the county’s first case of the virus. He said that patient, the town of Rochester man, had recently returned from a trip to France, was quarantined at home and was recovering.
Smith said at the Wednesday press conference that the Rochester man is doing “very, very well.” She said he currently is “asymptomatic” and has no fever.
Earlier Wednesday, Smith said that, in light of the second case, “all residents who are at higher risk — in particular seniors and those with chronic medical conditions — [should] take necessary precautions, such as avoiding large gatherings and public events.”
Ulster County’s COVD19 hotline number is (845) 443-8888.
There have been more than 118,000 cases of COVID-19 around the world, more than 1,000 in the U.S. and at least 212 in New York state. The World Health Organization on Wednesday declared the outbreak a global pandemic.