Everyone should get virus test, Ryan says
Exec announces weeklong initiative
KINGSTON, N.Y. » Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan has declared July 12-19 “Get Tested Week” in the continued effort to control the spread of the coronavirus.
Speaking during a Facebook Live event Thursday afternoon, Ryan said he hopes the effort will result in at least 1,000 tests for COVID-19 per day.
“This is a critical step that we can all do,” said Ryan, who added testing is even more important as people return to work now that the Mid-Hudson Region is in Phase 4 of the state’s reopening process.
Ryan urged county residents to “spread the word” about the testing initiative.
The testing sites include several medical offices and chain drugstores, as well as the county’s ex
isting drive-in/walk-in operations in Kingston and Ellenville. A complete list can be found online at bit.ly/ulstesting.
Anyone who wants a test can have one, at no charge, Ryan said.
The executive said increased testing will allow the county to identify any new clusters of COVID and address them. Clusters that showed up over the past week in Kingston, parts of southern Ulster County, and in connection with a local youth softball team that traveled out of state and back caused a small spike in the number of active COVID cases in the county.
But after the case number jumped from 119 on July 1 to 169 on July 5, it was back down to 137 on Wednesday. Also Wednesday, there were only six cases of COVID found among 722 people tested in the county, a positive rate of just 0.8%.
“It is critical that we remain vigilant and encourage all residents to get tested,” Ryan said in a press release issued after the Facebook event. “Getting testing is safe, easy and free. ‘Get Tested Week’ serves as a call to action for Ulster County residents to not wait to get tested, but to visit one of the many locations around the county now.”
Ryan said increased testing is part of his recently unveiled COVID-19 Rapid Response Plan to respond to reports of increased cases.
“The Rapid Response five-step plan works to identify, investigate, isolate, communicate and enforce in anticipation of potential cases,” his press release stated. “The plan will focus on identifying cases through robust testing capacity, investigation through contact tracing, isolation through issuing quarantine, communication through keeping the public informed, and continued enforcement of the [state’s] ‘Pause’ order.”
Ulster County has had 1,868 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the outbreak began in March. There have been 87 deaths from the illness in the county and 1,644 cases of infected people recovering.
Also Thursday, Columbia Memorial Hospital in Hudson announced it has expanded its visitation guidelines to “maintain the safety of patients, visitors, staff and the environment of care.”
The guidelines state, among other things, that visiting hours will be from 2-5 p.m. daily, visitors must wear masks, patients will be allowed one healthy visitor per day, and all visitors must be 18 or older.