‘Concerning rise’ in COVID-19 hospitalizations in Ulster

10 residents are in the hospital and two of those on ventilators

The number of Ulster County residents who are hospitalized for COVID-19 has doubled since last week to 10, a “concerning rise,” County Executive Pat Ryan said Tuesday.

“Really for the first time in months we’ve crossed that threshold of a rolling average over five and trending up. And so, this is again a reminder that COVID is serious and can be deadly and that we cannot let our guard down as we continue to drive forward,” Ryan said during a Facebook Live event on Tuesday.

Despite the growing number of hospitalizations, Ryan said “The metric we continue to primarily focus on is the number of new cases each day. This is still looking pretty good.”

In the four days prior to Tuesday’s meeting, Ryan said there were 27 new positive cases of the virus out of 3,126 test results received, for an infection rate of 0.86%. But in the past 24 hours, there were 10 new positive cases reported out of 546 tests performed, bringing the county’s total of positive cases to 165, and its infection rate up to 1.79%.

Although the numbers are “relatively small” Ryan said “One of the things we’re trying to look at and that our team is looking at is that even though the total number of cases and infections have stayed about steady, to see the hospitalization number going up is something we’re watching and trying to see what is driving that.”

He said that while the county has a more than adequate supply of hospital beds, intensive care beds and ventilators, having 10 residents in the hospital and two of them on ventilators “is obviously not what we want to see.”

Ryan speculated that a number of factors might have led to the rising numbers.

“I think we are seeing the intersection of a few key things happening. One, the weather is getting colder; two, we’ve had holidays and the fall period and lots of travel and interaction and different events, including some religious holidays; three, more people are coming back to school,” the

executive said.

“If we’re not careful and vigilant and disciplined at the individual level and the organizational level, then that’s where we see things spiral out of control. That’s not where we’re at now but we’ve seen this happen in several neighborhoods in New York City and even some of our counties to the south and in Rockland and Orange,” Ryan said. “If we don’t follow the precautions this virus does what a virus does, which is spread rapidly, and we could easily be back in a situation where that is happening.”

Ulster County has seen 2,378 cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic hit in March. Of those, there have been 2,118 recoveries and 95 deaths, according to the county’s COVID-19 dashboard.

By the numbers

Greene County on Tuesday reported an infection rate of 11.9% or 41 new positive cases out of 345 people tested, a “drastic increase in active COVID-19 cases in Greene County from September 21st to October 9th,” according to a post on the Greene County Public Health Department Facebook page. Most of the county’s new cases are at state correctional facilities in the county, according to the post.

Everyone in Greene County who tested positive will be contact-traced, according to the County Public Health Department.

Greene County has had 378 cases of COVID-19 since March. Of those, 331 have recovered and 19 have died, according to the county’s Facebook page.

Dutchess County on Tuesday reported that as of

Sunday there were 138 active cases in the county.

There have been 5,252 confirmed cases since the coronavirus pandemic began with 4,950 recovered. Dutchess County has seen 162 fatalities from the virus.

On Tuesday, Columbia County reported 17 active cases of COVID-19, up from 13 reported two days earlier. According to the county’s COVID-19 dashboard, five residents are currently hospitalized and one is in an intensive care unit. There have been 598 cases of the virus to date in Columbia, 544 recoveries, and 37 deaths.

Orange County is currently reporting 12,868 positive cases of COVID-19, including 1,726 in the city of Newburgh. There are 24 hospitalized confirmed positive cases of the virus in Orange County and 12 hospitalized and “under investigation,” according to the county dashboard.

Five hundred and one Orange County residents have died of COVID-19 since the pandemic began in March.

SUNY New Paltz and SUNY Ulster in Stone Ridge reported no new cases on Monday.

On Tuesday on its dashboard, Marist College in

Poughkeepsie reported 37 positives since reopening, with 8 of those were cleared by the medical team to return to campus. The college reported 26 positives in isolation off campus, and 3 of isolated on campus.

The Marist College lockdown remains in effect until Wednesday. The campus is closed to all visitors and students remain on campus and avoid traveling. All onand off- campus activities have been suspended and gatherings, including parties, are prohibited.

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