Caseload drops; 6 people are hospitalized

Ulster County had 108 active cases of COVID-19 on Monday, down from 114 the day before, and it reported Tuesday that six people were hospitalized with the illness, including one in an intensive care unit.

During a Facebook Live event Tuesday, County Executive Pat Ryan said one of the hospitalized patients is on a ventilator, but it was not immediately clear if that was the ICU patient.

Ryan said the county currently has 41 available hospital beds for COVID patients, seven available ICU beds and 35 available ventilators.

The county’s online dashboard of COVID information shows seven new cases out of the most 823 test results received, a rate of about 0.9%. Ryan said having a rate below 1% is an accomplishment, especially in light of numbers “inching up elsewhere in the state.”

At a briefing Tuesday morning, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the infection rate in the Mid-Hudson Region, of which Ulster County is a part, is 2%. New cases in Orange and Rockland counties are largely responsible for the jump, and the governor said expressed concern about rising case numbers in the orthodox Jewish communities in those counties.

Another COVID hot spot of late is Brooklyn, which also has a large orthodox Jewish population. Cuomo said he planned to meet with religious leaders in Orange, Rockland and Brooklyn late Tuesday or early Wednesday.

Cuomo said the state would “aggressively target” new clusters,m which he linkened to “embers beginning to catch fire in dry grass.”

Ryan on Tuesday reported a total of 2,280 cases of COVID-19 in Ulster County since the pandemic hit locally in March. Of those, there have been 2,077 recoveries and 95 deaths.

Ryan said 92,079 coronavirus tests have been performed in the county.

Ulster County Sheriff Juan Figueroa, appearing alongside Ryan Tuesday, pointed to the fact that there have no COVID cases at the county jail as proof that wearing masks, maintaining social distance and washing hands work in the fight against the illness.

Ryan called the Ulster County Jail “one of the most healthy facilities in the state, if not the country.”

By the numbers

• An Ulster County official said all 10 residents whose positive tests last week were suspected to be incorrect are, in fact, COVID-negative. One of the 10 is a Kingston school district food-service employee.

• Dutchess County’s COVID-19 dashboard on Tuesday reported 147 active positive cases as of Sunday and said six of the people are hospitalized. Since March, there have been 5,124 cases of COVID in Dutchess County, 4,821 recoveries and 156 deaths.

• SUNY New Paltz on Tuesday again reported no new cases of COVID-19 and said it had no remaining active cases.

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