Rockland reported no confirmed COVID-19-related deaths Tuesday — the first time in nearly two months the county Medical Examiner's Office did not record a fatality. The last 24-hour period without a coronavirus-related death was March 21, according to the county. There have been 611 fatalities here since the outbreak began in early March, according to the state. Hospitalizations continued dropping, from 83 cases to 76. Rockland has had 12,798 total COVID-19 cases since the outbreak began, up from Monday’s reported total of 12,777 — an increase of well under 1%, which is similar to the recent trend. The most recent testing data showed 21 positive results out of 338 tests, a 6% positive test rate. That’s in line with the 4% rate reported Monday and the 5% rate reported Friday. During his Tuesday coronavirus briefing, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said 105 people across the state had died, one fewer than the fatalities reported Monday, and there were 335 new infections statewide. The two state-mandated criteria the region has not yet met are: - 14-day decline in hospital deaths based on a three-day average - Having at least 30 contact tracers per 100,000 residents. County Executive Ed Day said that by the end of Tuesday, Rockland will have provided the state with details of the 100 contract tracers the county is hiring to meet that metric. “We are working to identify and train additional tracers as well to help our region meet this standard,” he stated. Tracers help COVID-19 patients recall everyone they have had close contact with while they may have been infectious. Tracers then warn the exposed individuals of their potential exposure. As for the seventh metric regarding hospital deaths, Day said, “because we are unfortunately continuing to see deaths in hospitals around our region, we cannot say for certain when we will meet this final metric.”
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