GOSHEN – A public health alert issued Friday by Orange County Health Commissioner Dr. Irina Gelman “strongly urges and recommends” that all persons over the age of two, who are medically able to tolerate it, should wear a mask when indoors in public whether they are vaccinated or not.
She noted that on December 10, Governor Kathy Hochul announced that effect December 13, masks will be required to be worn in all indoor public places unless businesses or venues implement a vaccine requirement.
Because a number of area counties said they would not enforce the mask mandate, several businesses are not enforcing it, and in many cases, employees are not wearing masks.
The latest Orange County health advisory said as of December 15, the transmission rate continues to be classified as high by the CDC since August.
The advisory said the average daily count of new COVID-19 cases over the last seven days has increased 51 percent compared to the week of the Thanksgiving holiday.
It said the county’s seven-day rolling average is 260 new cases per day, “a level which has not been seen since late March 2021.”
The alert said approximately 62 percent of the total county population is fully vaccinated, “which leaves our community vulnerable to continued disease transmission.”
The advisory said it is “imperative that health care providers encourage, and residents adhere to the CDC Disease Prevention Guidelines including, but not limited to wearing masks when indoors and in public, regardless of vaccination status and timely vaccination among all eligible residents to prevent the spread of COVID-19.”
