After a nine week pause, some businesses in the Mid-Hudson Region have reopened, including construction, manufacturing, retail for curbside pickup only, wholesale trade and agriculture. Putnam County Executive Mary Ellen Odell says the region has shown a significant downward trend in the spread of coronavirus and met the seven metrics the state required to enter Phase 1 of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s four-phase reopening plan.
A major part of the Phase 1 plan includes having contact tracers notify those who have been exposed to COVID-19. Contact tracers throughout the region were trained this weekend and began work yesterday. The region’s contact tracers include a mix of health department employees, other county employees, summer interns and volunteers from the Medical Reserve Corps.
Phase 1 will last for two weeks while the number of COVID-19 cases in the Mid-Hudson region are closely monitored. If the downward trend reverses and the numbers increase, the state can put the region back on pause.
New York's seven criteria for reopening included: a 14-day decline in net hospitalizations; a decline in death; fewer than 2 new hospitalizations per 100,000 residents; at least 30 percent availability of hospital beds; 30 percent availability of ICU beds; and an aggressive testing and contact tracing program.
