Yellow Zone restrictions lifted for Newburgh, New Windsor

Posted 3/24/21

After months of being designated as a yellow COVID-19 cluster, the City of Newburgh and Town of New Windsor will see it lifted. For weeks, it was the only area left as a yellow zone aside from some …

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Yellow Zone restrictions lifted for Newburgh, New Windsor

Posted

After months of being designated as a yellow COVID-19 cluster, the City of Newburgh and Town of New Windsor will see it lifted. For weeks, it was the only area left as a yellow zone aside from some areas in New York City.

Governor Andrew Cuomo made the announcement during a conference call on Wednesday, March 17. The yellow zone was officially lifted on Monday, March 22.

While the area was in the yellow zone designation, which was first put in place in our area on November 19, non-residential gatherings were limited to 25 people, residential gatherings were limited to 10 people, houses of worship were at 50 percent capacity and schools were open with 20 percent weekly testing of in-person students and faculty. Businesses were able to remain open and restaurants must only seat four people per table and close by 10 p.m.

The change means that now the Orange County areas will fall in line with overall state guidance. Although the designation was lifted and more vaccinations are happening, Newburgh and New Windsor aren’t totally out of the woods yet.

Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus reported 860 new Covid cases from over the weekend. No deaths were reported, but 17 individuals are on ventilators and 105 are hospitalized.

Also on Monday, Cuomo announced that all New Yorkers over the age of 50 are eligible as of March 23 to receive the COVID-19 vaccination.

Orange County has also continued to fight COVID-19 with its steady rollout of the vaccination. Last week, Orange County Health Commissioner Dr. Irina Gelman and Director of Nursing Heather Boss administered doses of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine to senior residents on Friday, March 19 at the Joseph A. Fogarty, High Pointe and Hudson Pointe Apartments in the City of Newburgh.

At SUNY Orange, the county administered 1,175 second dose Pfizer vaccines. All in all, the county administered more than 5,500 first and second doses. Since the rollout began in January, the county has administered vaccines to more than 30,000 residents.

On Wednesday and Thursday this week, Orange County will hold two “super pods” in Goshen for vaccinations with a tentative of 2,300 vaccinated each day.