COVID caseload and hospitalizations rise

County Executive Pat Ryan says officials are keeping ‘a close eye’ on the situation.

Ulster County on Tuesday reported it had 129 active cases of COVID-19 as of Monday, up from 126 the previous day.

County Executive Pat Ryan said during Facebook Live event Tuesday afternoon that four people in the county were hospitalized with COVID, up from the last reported total of two. Of the four, one was in intensive care and on a ventilator, Ryan said.

The executive referred to the number of hospitalized patients as “a little up from what we’ve seen in the last few weeks” but said “everything else looks pretty good.”

He said the hospitalization increase might be an “anomaly” but that county officials were keeping “a close eye” on it.

The county’s hospital capacity is “more than adequate if we need it,” he said.

Four of the 295 COVID test results Ulster County received Monday were positive, a rate of 1.5%, according to the county’s online dashboard of COVID information. Ryan noted, however, that of the 1,623 results received in the most recent 72-hour period, only 10 were positive — a rate of 0.6%. That’s in line with a trend largely in place since early June.

“We’re feeling good with where we sit,” the executive said.

Ulster County had 129 active cases of COVID-19 on Monday, just three more than a day earlier but 10 more than a week earlier.

At the local peak of the COVID outbreak, in April, Ulster had 1,009 active cases of the illness and a positive test rate of 33%.

The county dashboard on Tuesday showed a total of 2,240 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since March. Of those, 2,017 patients have recovered and 94 have died, though there hasn’t been a death from the illness in Ulster County since the third week in August.

SUNY New Paltz reported no new cases on Tuesday. A total of 13 students at the college have tested positive for COVID-19 since the fall semester began Aug. 24, and only two cases were active Tuesday.

No employees of SUNY New Paltz have tested pos

itive.

Dutchess County reported online Tuesday that, as of Sunday, it had 180 active

cases of COVID-19. Dutchess has had a total of 4,994 cases of the virus, 4,660 recoveries and 154 deaths.

For local coverage related to the coronavirus, go to bit.ly/DFCOVID19.