2 residents of assistedliving facility die of COVID
Two residents of t he Hedgewood Home f or Adults, an assisted- l ivi ng facility in southern Dutchess County, died of COVID-19 this week, County Executive Marc Molinaro said Wednesday.
Speaking during a Facebook Live event, Molinaro also said there were 40 active cases of COVID among residents and staff of the 192- bed facility at 355 Fishkill Ave. (Route 52) in Beacon.
Molinaro sa id t he Hedgewood cluster is “a critical concern” and that Dutchess officials are working with New York state “to slow and contain the situation.”
“This is a population that can and will likely see continued transmission, and some of these cases may become severe,” the executive said. “We may see several additional deaths related to that particular facility.”
Molinaro said 71 cases of COVID in Dutchess County during September were linked to the Hedgewood facility.
Ulst e r Count y on Wednesday reported 116 active cases of COVID as of Tuesday, up from 108 the day before.
The county’s online dashboard of COVID information showed eight new cases among 511 newly received test results, a positivity rate of 1.6%. Since a brief spike in late July, the rate has generally been between zero and 1.5%.
At the peak of the local outbreak, in April, the rate of positive tests in Ulster County was 33%, and there were more than 1,000 actives cases of COVID.
The number of COVID-related deaths in Ulster County has held at 95 since Sept. 16.
Dutchess C ount y ’ s onl i ne COVID dashboard showed 156 deaths on Wednesday, but that did not include the two Hedgewood residents.
Molinaro said there currently are 145 active cases of COVID i n Dutchess County, including those at the Beacon facility.
SUNY New Paltz on Wednesday 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.