NYC provides positive cases and deaths by zip code: https://www1.nyc.gov/site/doh/covid/covid-19-data.page
Yonkers and New Rochelle give zip code breakdown for positive cases. https://www.lohud.com/story/news/coronavirus/2020/05/14/covid-19-hot-spots-zip-codes-new-rochelle-yonkers/3087759001/
Greenburgh, with 90,000 residents, can't be bothered or doesn't trust its residents with similar data.
Monday, May 18, 2020
Tuesday, May 12, 2020
GREENBURGH COVID19: County numbers are no longer understandable
I've stopped my regular discussion of the new Westchester County numbers and offering projections because the numbers being presented are getting strange and incomprehensible.
This is what the County is sending out today for Greenburgh:
Compare this to one week ago (5/5):
MAY 5, 2020
The County informs us that the number in parentheses is the total number of cases that have tested positive ("total cases") and the smaller number are the active cases.
So, in the course of once week, the "total cases" - a number which without further explanation we have assumed to represent the total number of individuals having tested positive since we started receiving County updates at the beginning of April - is now decreasing overall for the County and inconsistently in different communities.
As you can see, on May 5, 2020, the county reported for unincorporated Greenburgh 1,089 cases total: one week later the county is reporting 1,070? Similarly, Irvington was at 84 total on 5/5 and now is at 77? Ardsley and Hastings too see declines. Yet, we're still seeing increases, admittedly small, in the totals of Elmsford and Tarrytown and a 10% increase in Dobbs Ferry. Also look at our neighbors: a significant decrease in Scarsdale and Mount Pleasant but increases in Sleepy Hollow (an unreported story) and White Plains.
How are "totals" decreasing without explanation. On May 5, 2020, the County reported 31,869 total cases and one week later the County reports 26,484 - a decrease of 17%? New York State is reporting 31,472 "total tested positive" for Westchester County as of 5/12. https://covid19tracker.health.ny.gov/views/NYS-COVID19-Tracker/NYSDOHCOVID-19Tracker-TableView?%3Aembed=yes&%3Atoolbar=no
What is going on with the County? Is the County wrong or is New York State mistaken? Is the County lopping off positive tests before a certain date? The County needs to be more transparent on how they come up with these numbers and explain what they mean.
The County now purports to have geographically identified 95% of the "total cases" but now that the consistency (and maybe the reliability) of these "total cases" is questionable, I don't place much stock in projecting additional cases.
This is what the County is sending out today for Greenburgh:
MAY 12, 2020
Compare this to one week ago (5/5):
MAY 5, 2020
The County informs us that the number in parentheses is the total number of cases that have tested positive ("total cases") and the smaller number are the active cases.
So, in the course of once week, the "total cases" - a number which without further explanation we have assumed to represent the total number of individuals having tested positive since we started receiving County updates at the beginning of April - is now decreasing overall for the County and inconsistently in different communities.
As you can see, on May 5, 2020, the county reported for unincorporated Greenburgh 1,089 cases total: one week later the county is reporting 1,070? Similarly, Irvington was at 84 total on 5/5 and now is at 77? Ardsley and Hastings too see declines. Yet, we're still seeing increases, admittedly small, in the totals of Elmsford and Tarrytown and a 10% increase in Dobbs Ferry. Also look at our neighbors: a significant decrease in Scarsdale and Mount Pleasant but increases in Sleepy Hollow (an unreported story) and White Plains.
How are "totals" decreasing without explanation. On May 5, 2020, the County reported 31,869 total cases and one week later the County reports 26,484 - a decrease of 17%? New York State is reporting 31,472 "total tested positive" for Westchester County as of 5/12. https://covid19tracker.health.ny.gov/views/NYS-COVID19-Tracker/NYSDOHCOVID-19Tracker-TableView?%3Aembed=yes&%3Atoolbar=no
What is going on with the County? Is the County wrong or is New York State mistaken? Is the County lopping off positive tests before a certain date? The County needs to be more transparent on how they come up with these numbers and explain what they mean.
The County now purports to have geographically identified 95% of the "total cases" but now that the consistency (and maybe the reliability) of these "total cases" is questionable, I don't place much stock in projecting additional cases.
Thursday, May 7, 2020
GREENBURGH COVID19: WHAT DOES THE PUBLIC HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW?
Today's announcement by New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson about the disparities in COVID19 cases in his city was highlighted by his release of positive case numbers broken down by zip code. Rockland County has been routinely giving positive case numbers organized by zip code. In Greenburgh? No such luck. The County gives the public daily total numbers for each village and one big number for unincorporated Greenburgh's 43,000 residents (information which has often lagged by days) but no more detail than that.
From correspondence with Town and County officials, we do know that the Greenburgh Town Supervisor and Police Chief receive a daily update of positive cases in the town identified by name and address. The question of whether or not you want Supervisor Feiner and Chief Ryan knowing your personal medical information is a topic I'm not going to deal with here. These officials assert they are bound by some sort of non-disclosure agreement (NDA) that is given to them and presumably drafted by Westchester County. Despite my requests, I have not been able to receive a copy of this NDA. I would be particularly interested in the county attorney's opinion which presumably accompanies this NDA.
Putting this mysterious NDA to the side, we clearly understand the importance of protecting individuals' privacy. Whether such individuals sacrifice that right to privacy by acting negligently - for example routinely not maintaining social distance or not wearing a mask - is yet another complex question which I can't answer. Consistent with HIPAA, personal identifying information should not be released to the general public (do immediate neighbors, particularly in an apartment building have a right to know? especially if they are high risk? - stop with the complex questions!).
If the county has decided that Paul Feiner is entitled to know whether you have tested positive for COVID19, what rights to information should the rest of us civilians have? How does the County decide which officials are entitled to your medical information?
We should we care, you might ask? After all, knowing that one zip code has a lot more cases than another shouldn't impact behavior, or should it? Or would a particular school district having a very large number of cases impact, for example, plans for summer activities, or even opening on time in September?
Well, we do have some hint of discrepancies. The Greenburgh village breakdown show us that the positive cases in Greenburgh's villages ranges widely, from Elmsford's 3725 per 100K to Irvington's 1162 per 100K. Put another way, Greenburgh's village with the lowest per capita income ($38K per censusreporter.org) has more than triple the positive case rate of Irvington, Greenburgh's village with the highest per capita income ($84K). Maybe you're not interested in further information that may shed light on such inequities in our "community" that have policy implications. I know that I'm certainly interested in learning more about such discrepancies.
What do you think? What do Greenburgh residents have a right to know about positive cases in their community? And when should they know it?
From correspondence with Town and County officials, we do know that the Greenburgh Town Supervisor and Police Chief receive a daily update of positive cases in the town identified by name and address. The question of whether or not you want Supervisor Feiner and Chief Ryan knowing your personal medical information is a topic I'm not going to deal with here. These officials assert they are bound by some sort of non-disclosure agreement (NDA) that is given to them and presumably drafted by Westchester County. Despite my requests, I have not been able to receive a copy of this NDA. I would be particularly interested in the county attorney's opinion which presumably accompanies this NDA.
Putting this mysterious NDA to the side, we clearly understand the importance of protecting individuals' privacy. Whether such individuals sacrifice that right to privacy by acting negligently - for example routinely not maintaining social distance or not wearing a mask - is yet another complex question which I can't answer. Consistent with HIPAA, personal identifying information should not be released to the general public (do immediate neighbors, particularly in an apartment building have a right to know? especially if they are high risk? - stop with the complex questions!).
If the county has decided that Paul Feiner is entitled to know whether you have tested positive for COVID19, what rights to information should the rest of us civilians have? How does the County decide which officials are entitled to your medical information?
We should we care, you might ask? After all, knowing that one zip code has a lot more cases than another shouldn't impact behavior, or should it? Or would a particular school district having a very large number of cases impact, for example, plans for summer activities, or even opening on time in September?
Well, we do have some hint of discrepancies. The Greenburgh village breakdown show us that the positive cases in Greenburgh's villages ranges widely, from Elmsford's 3725 per 100K to Irvington's 1162 per 100K. Put another way, Greenburgh's village with the lowest per capita income ($38K per censusreporter.org) has more than triple the positive case rate of Irvington, Greenburgh's village with the highest per capita income ($84K). Maybe you're not interested in further information that may shed light on such inequities in our "community" that have policy implications. I know that I'm certainly interested in learning more about such discrepancies.
What do you think? What do Greenburgh residents have a right to know about positive cases in their community? And when should they know it?
Wednesday, May 6, 2020
GREENBURGH COVID19: County Numbers Get Strange
This is weird.
County Totals from 5/5:
TOTAL. ACTIVE NEW
Now the County Total from today, 5/6:
TOTAL. ACTIVE. NEW
I understand the number of active cases going down, and as well as the number of new cases. But how do the Total "known" cases fall but the "unknown" rise?
County Totals from 5/5:
TOTAL. ACTIVE NEW
Now the County Total from today, 5/6:
TOTAL. ACTIVE. NEW
I understand the number of active cases going down, and as well as the number of new cases. But how do the Total "known" cases fall but the "unknown" rise?
Tuesday, May 5, 2020
GREENBURGH COVID19: Cases identified shows. a bump, but active case number surprisingly low
Reviewing the positive cases after another four days ago:
Unincorporated Greenburgh: 1,089
Greenburgh Villages: 1,012
Town of Greenburgh 2,101
Village Breakdown
Elmsford: 188
Ardsley: 95
Tarrytown: 258
Irvington: 84
Dobbs Ferry: 266
Hastings: 121
The County's total of 31,869 has pulled ahead of the State's reported 30,240 positive cases overall for Westchester. The rate of geographically identified cases has jumped to 78%. Applying this 78% rate to the County's geographical numbers, we project the number of Greenburgh cases as:
Unincorporated Greenburgh: 1,396 (+146 in 4 days)
Greenburgh Villages: 1,297 (+135 in 4 days)
Town total 2,693
So we're finally getting reasonably updated geographic cases numbers from the County. But the County still doesn't feel the public deserves to know actual death number by locality. With not much effort, the County could be even more informative and provide positive case and death total by zip codes without violating any individual's HIPAA rights. Every town supervisor and police chief has this data but is prohibited from disclosing any information by the county. Of course protect individuals' privacy, but the County should consider its residents as adult who can digest and contextualize more specific information about the worst pandemic since 1968.
So we're finally getting reasonably updated geographic cases numbers from the County. But the County still doesn't feel the public deserves to know actual death number by locality. With not much effort, the County could be even more informative and provide positive case and death total by zip codes without violating any individual's HIPAA rights. Every town supervisor and police chief has this data but is prohibited from disclosing any information by the county. Of course protect individuals' privacy, but the County should consider its residents as adult who can digest and contextualize more specific information about the worst pandemic since 1968.
Friday, May 1, 2020
GREENBURGH COVID19: A new month: TOV rate increases are low; villages catching up
Reviewing the positive cases after another four days ago:
Unincorporated Greenburgh: 863 (+48 since Monday 4/27)
Greenburgh Villages: 802 (+60 since Monday 4/27)
Town of Greenburgh 1665
Village Breakdown
Elmsford: 148 (+3 since Monday)
Ardsley: 67 (+2 " )
Tarrytown: 223 (+17 ")
Irvington: 67 (+6. ")
Dobbs Ferry: 212 (+29. ")
Hastings: 85 (+3. ")
The County's total of 29,787 has pulled ahead of the State's reported 29,232 positive cases for Westchester. The rate of geographically identified cases continues to increase, now up to 69%. Applying this 69% rate to the County's geographical numbers, we project the number of Greenburgh cases as:
Unincorporated Greenburgh: 1,250 (+34 in 4 days)
Greenburgh Villages: 1,162 (+55 in 4 days)
Town total 2,412
With new case increases in TOV continuing to remain low (average of 12 new cases per day this week), we are still seeing villages rates catch up. The increase rate in the villages, however, varies greatly. Elmsford finally seems to be slowing down, but Dobbs Ferry , and to a lesser extent, Tarrytown had larger jumps. Again, this may only be a function of testing.
With new case increases in TOV continuing to remain low (average of 12 new cases per day this week), we are still seeing villages rates catch up. The increase rate in the villages, however, varies greatly. Elmsford finally seems to be slowing down, but Dobbs Ferry , and to a lesser extent, Tarrytown had larger jumps. Again, this may only be a function of testing.
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