Comptroller calls on people to stay home, contradicting exec
On her official Facebook page, Ulster County Comptroller March Gallagher has created an “event” that calls on people to stay home in response to the coronavirus known as COVID-19.
Gallagher’s recommendation does not reflect the county’s policy. Asked about it at a press conference Wednesday afternoon that was called to address the county’s second confirmed case of COVID-19, County Exec
utive Pat Ryan said: “I take expert medical advice from our commissioner of health. ... I would look to the public health experts. That’s how, as the county executive, I’m making those decisions.”
The Facebook event notice, posted by Gallagher at 9 p.m. Tuesday, states an end date of March 24 and includes the message, “We urge everyone to stay home as much as possible in order to slow the rate of infection from COVID-19. We recognize that this presents a terrible challenge for businesses and families, but this is what is needed for now.”
Gallagher said by phone Wednesday that “we” referred to the Comptroller’s
Office.
Ryan announced Sunday that a town of Rochester man, had tested positive for the virus, and the executive said at the time that any county resident experiencing a fever, with cough or shortness of breath, should call the county Department of Health and Mental Health or the state Department of Health. He did not recommend residents stay in their homes unless they are sick.
On Wednesday, Ryan said the county’s second COVID-19 patient is a male senior citizen who lives in the town of Shanwangunk.
Reached by phone Wednesday morning at her office in the Ulster County Office Building, Gallagher said: “I’m at work. My office is open. We know what public health recommendations are at this time in this country. … I am making a recommendation about what you do with your free time.”
Asked why her recommendation apparently differs from that of the county executive and the county health department, the comptroller said that as a “separately elected official,” she felt compelled to respond to the concerns and questions of her constituents.
The Ulster County comptroller is elected by county voters and does not work for the county executive.
“I’m not questioning the leadership of the county executive or the department of health,” Gallagher said. “... I’m accountable to the people of Ulster County, not [to] the county executive. People look to me for leadership.
The comptroller said that as cases of COVID-19 have become more widely publicized, “I’ve made decisions for the health of myself and my family that are different than I did two weeks ago.”
In a Facebook post on Monday, Gallagher proposed “zero-interest loans for small businesses” that experience sales decreases exceeding 25% as a result of consumer response to the virus. Gallagher’s suggestion was a response to a proposal posted on the New York City website regarding loans of up to $75,000 to businesses with fewer than 100 employees and grants to businesses with fewer than five employees to cover 40 percent of their payroll costs for two months.
New York state had 212 confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of Wednesday, with most of them in Westchester County. There were more than 1,000 cases in the U.S. and 118,000 cases worldwide, and the World Health Organization on Wednesday declared the outbreak a global pandemic.