New Rochelle, NY’s Hot Spot For COVID-19 Is Now A Containment Zone

New York has deployed the National Guard to New Rochelle over the alarming rate of coronavirus cases in the area.

Governor Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday put into effect something many of us have never seen in our lifetime. A ‘containment area’ has been implemented around a one-mile radius in the city of New Rochelle. COVID-19 is blossoming quickly and the National Guard has been called in to help contain the virus.

Closing schools, shutting down large gathering facilities, like houses of worship for two weeks should help stop the spread of the disease. Closures will begin on Thursday. Grocery stores and pharmacies will remain open during the containment period.

The National Guard is being deployed to assist with deep-cleaning of schools and delivering food to residents who are under self-quarantine.

“The numbers are going up unabated, and we do need a special public health strategy.”

-Cuomo

New Rochelle is just north of New York City in Westchester County. In New York State, 173 cases have been confirmed, 108 of those cases are in Westchester.

What’s Really Going On

State Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker recommended Cuomo to take emergency measures. Those who are not quarantined can leave their homes, the city is not locked down.

Tener Veenema is a professor of nursing and public health at Johns Hopkins University. She said disease containment is a response to public health emergencies that dates back to tuberculosis outbreaks in this country.

“It’s all part of trying to slow or stop transmission of disease and to mitigate or reduce the ultimate impaact of disease on the affected community.”

“The challenge with the coronavirus, of course is that it’s new and has not been seen in the population before, so we do not have a clear and distinct epidemiological picture of what the disease is. We’re still trying to figure out the period of incubation, modes of transmission, and the risk profile. In the adsence of that type of epidecmiological and clinical data, we are forced to make decisions with our best intentions to try to limit that transmission of disease.”

-Tener Veenema

(Cover photo, 2nd photo, video, and source courtesy of NBC News)