Westchester County Executive George Latimer on Dec. 7 issued a declaration of emergency as part of the effort to prepare for a possible increase in Covid infections, hospitalizations and deaths.
At the same time, it was disclosed that there is a confirmed case of the Covid-19 Omicron variant in Westchester County. The individual who has been infected is identified only as a 13-year-old resident.
“We are concerned about this discovery, and are closely monitoring the situation,” Latimer said. “With the new variant circulating, the best way we can protect our families and ourselves is by being vaccinated, and by getting a booster shot if you are eligible.”
When revealing plans to draft a declaration of emergency, Latimer explained that the move is precautionary and said it will not result in any immediate government mandates such as the mandate imposed Dec. 6 by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio requiring all workers in private-sector businesses in the city to be vaccinated by Dec. 27. The emergency declaration is designed to give Latimer and county government the ability to take actions that might become necessary to deal with a Covid surge.
When declaring the emergency, Latimer commented, “I am taking this action to combat the Delta and Omicron Covid variants. There is currently a public health threat, I know it has been many months, I know you are tired but we ”“ together – must take action to be better prepared to fight Covid and the new variants.”
Latimer previously had said that the county was watching four metrics to determine when to issue the declaration: a Covid infection rate over 3%; 100 or more people hospitalized in the county with Covid; 10 or more deaths per week from the virus; and 3,000 or more active cases in the county.
Latimer reported that as of Dec. 4, Westchester had 2,867 active Covid cases, a 3.3% infection rate, 84 people in hospitals with the virus and two deaths per week.
“We’re not looking to put in restrictions for sport,” Latimer said, while calling on individuals, businesses and institutions to do their part in taking action to fight the virus. Those actions would include using masks as appropriate, maintaining social distancing when called for and getting the basic vaccination and a booster shot.
“A state of emergency allows us to do certain things,” Latimer said. “We’re dialoguing as we speak with the various organizations in the community to discuss what they can do before we determine what we can do or will do and we’ll try to do as much cooperatively as we can and you will see a greater emphasis on wearing masks, that’s clear. You will see a greater emphasis on getting booster shots.”
Latimer noted that Ulster, Erie and Monroe Counties already had issued declarations of emergency.
“Their levels of hospitalizations and infections and active cases are different from ours,” Latimer said. “They’re more severe, and there may yet be state action taken by the governor … but at this point in time the state policy has been to let local governments, local counties, make these decisions. That was not the case a year ago.”
Latimer recalled that former Gov. Andrew Cuomo had the state legislature grant him extraordinary powers to deal with the crisis, thus limiting the actions that could be ordered by local officials. Those powers were withdrawn and under the administration of Gov. Kathy Hochul local officials have greater authority to order measures to act against the disease.
“I’m not worried about ‘Do I have that power?’ What we’re looking at first and foremost is to get people to understand how they have to use their authority in their world to deal with the size and scope of events before we come in,” Latimer said. “We are not looking to restrict economic realities. We are not looking to meddle in everybody’s business circumstances unnecessarily. It depends on infection rate and hospitalizations and deaths and active cases.”
Latimer disclosed the plan for a declaration of emergency during a Dec. 6 news conference at the County Office Building in White Plains where he was joined by Deputy County Executive Ken Jenkins and Susan Fox, president and CEO of White Plains Hospital.
New York state had issued a list on Dec. 2 showing White Plains Hospital as among 37 hospitals in the state that had 10% or less of their beds empty and might be required to cancel elective surgery should the caseload from Covid increase. Fox said that she and Latimer had talked with the governor’s office and expressed confidence that the hospital could handle whatever situation develops because of Covid.
“We’ve been through a lot. I think we’re going on 22 months of managing this and the good news is that we’ve learned a lot. The bad news is that it’s not over,” Fox said. “Certainly the Omicron variant we’re worried about, but we don’t know what that means yet. The other major issue for health care organizations is staffing. Our staff are tired. Our staff are burned out. Our staff keep rising to the occasion but some of them have retired, some of them have left the profession, some of them have chosen to leave because they didn’t want to be vaccinated, and that’s a very small amount but it all adds up to staffing being an issue for all of us.”
Fox pointed out that when the pandemic was running rampant, White Plains Hospital had about 240 Covid patients. As of Dec. 6, there were 15 Covid patients being treated at the hospital. She said that the staff is now 100% vaccinated with staff members receiving booster shots.
