Monsey residents may have been exposed to coronavirus at community events

Monsey residents “may have been exposed” to coronavirus after two caterers tested positive having worked at gatherings in the area, the Rockland County Health Department has warned. The two caterers from Ramapo worked at two events in Monsey: at 150 Remsen Avenue on February 28 and 29, and at the Atrium Ballroom, a catering hall on March 2, before testing positive for the virus, according to the New York Post. At least one of them also worked at a funeral on February 22 or a bat mitzvah on February 23 at the Temple Young Israel of New Rochelle, Westchester County, which has been linked to a number of cases, including that of lawyer Lawrence Garbuz, 50, and his family, and the synagogue‘s Rabbi, Reuven Fink. County health commissioner Dr. Patricia Schnabel Ruppert has warned in an email that those who attended the events in Monsey may therefore “have been exposed to coronavirus.” “It was previously believed that these infected individuals had not worked as caterers during these events and it was only through the detective work of one of our investigators that this discovery was made,” Ruppert said in a statement, according to the Post. “Any person who believes they may have been exposed should contact their health care provider by phone right away. I also ask that anyone who becomes ill with this disease be completely forthcoming with our investigators, it is only with your help that we can prevent the spread of this disease.” So far, the two caterers are the county’s only two positive cases, although 22 people are being monitored in quarantine. On Sunday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo warned New Yorkers to “avoid large gatherings,” and announced that there are now 105 positive cases in the state, 82 of which are in Westchester. A state of emergency was announced by Cuomo on Saturday, who said: “I’m not urging calm, I’m urging reality. I’m urging a factual response as opposed to an emotional response.” He added that “Westchester is an obvious problem for us. They talk about the contagion in clusters, and then the clusters tend to infect more and more people.”
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