Working With Coronavirus Hotspots In Westchester

WESTCHESTER COUNTY, NY — As coronavirus positivity rates creep up in Westchester, six at-risk zipcodes were identified by the state health department this week.

They're among 117 statewide with below-average vaccination rates and above-average transmission rates. In Westchester, the zipcodes are in four communities: Bedford Hills, Mohegan Lake and Valhalla plus three neighborhoods in Yonkers (10703, 10704, 10705, 10507, 10547, 10595).

While 75 percent of adults have been vaccinated in New York, 25 percent, or 3.5 million — a number larger than the population in 21 states — have not. Targeting those communities might help, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. SEE: Schools, Towns With High COVID-19 Rates Need Drastic Steps

Westchester is working on it. While the county has no authority to mandate anything in local municipalities or school districts, "there are a lot of things we can do," County Executive George Latimer told Patch Wednesday. "The first thing is we want to meet and talk with local officials in each of these communities. Dealing with the school districts — at the height of the pandemic we had a weekly call. We're re-establishing it this coming Monday."

SEE: Westchester To Consider Reimposing Coronavirus Restrictions

Where the county can be helpful is providing hyper-local testing and vaccination opportunities, Latimer said.

"Set up a couple of satellite clinics, then use county and local resources to promote the hell out of it, that's job one," he said. "Bringing vaccine clinics to schools — we just did one in Somers."

They're also looking at their own operations. The county has a large workforce and runs parks, Playland, police and public works departments.

"We're in dialog with county unions," Latimer said. "We're looking at departments and which departments have a public face ... We've got to get a handle on how large — or small — our population of unvaccinated employees is."

Latimer wants to do those things first because they're fast and simple.

Overall, 80 percent of Westchester residents age 18 and older have received at least one shot, he said. "The people who have not yet gotten vaccinated are people who are vaccine-resistant, not vaccine-hesitant," he said. "What we do with that is really going to be the $64,000 question."

Imposing restrictions will elicit serious opposition, he said. "At some point in time ... those who are aggressively unvaccinated will feel their freedoms are being impinged. We don't want to go down that rabbit hole right now. Let's see if moderate steps work."

The coronavirus positivity rate is creeping up across the Hudson region. As of Wednesday, the 7-day positivity rate was 1.89 percent, compared to 0.99 percent July 18. Statewide, the rate was 2.17 percent as of Wednesday compared to 1.26 percent July 18.