WHITE PLAINS – There are now 557 people dead related to the novel coronavirus outbreak in Westchester County, a 43% jump from the 389 deaths reported on Friday.
Some of the dead had no recorded pre-existing medical conditions, but the coronavirus and its resulting disease COVID-19 have been most deadly for older residents or those with other medical conditions, County Executive George Latimer said in a Monday briefing.
More than half of those who died in Westchester were 70 or older, Latimer said, although he didn’t provide an exact number. Two-thirds were 60 and older, he said.
The fatalities have largely stricken people of color despite Westchester being estimated at 74% white. Latimer didn’t share the latest totals in his Monday briefing but said in a social media post that as of Friday, 36.5% of those who’d died were African American, 35.1% Hispanic and 13.2% Asian American.
The county has a 16.5% black and African-American population countywide, according to the latest census estimates. The Hispanic or Latino population is 25.1%
One positive among the grim statistics, Latimer said, was a leveling off of active cases and hospitalizations. Although the number of state-confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the county reached 19,786 on Monday, there are about 10,500 active cases and 1,194 hospitalized as of Monday.
Five days ago, there were 1,107 people hospitalized.
“We think that represents one example of the flattening of the curve that we’ve heard so much about,” Latimer told reporters in the briefing, broadcast via Zoom.
Westchester has a hospital bed capacity of about 3,000, with 100 additional beds being built at an overflow hospital at the county-run Westchester County Center. Officials are hopeful that the need for beds will not spike beyond capacity, a fear of health experts that led to efforts to shut down most aspects of daily life to limit the spread.
Latimer’s office shared the town-by-town totals of confirmed cases, although the local data lags behind the state data by several days. As a result, the local results are far fewer than the 19,786 total cases in the state.
Strong winds and rain the region closed down the two county COVID-19 testing sites at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla and Glen Island Park in New Rochelle, so results may slow down for Tuesday, Latimer said.
It was not expected to delay the opening of the Westchester County Center overflow hospital, Latimer said.
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