Coronavirus (Image provided by U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

The town of Tupper Lake has surpassed Malone for the highest number of known active cases of COVID-19 in Franklin County.

As of Monday, 51 Tupper Lake residents were in isolation after testing positive for COVID-19. Another 179 residents were in quarantine. Together, that’s one in every 25 people in the town. In Malone, there are 31 active cases of COVID-19 and 49 people in quarantine.

The number of cases in the neighboring town of Harrietstown is also increasing, though not as rapidly. As of Monday, there were nine active cases and 41 people in quarantine in Harrietstown, which includes more than half of the village of Saranac Lake.

The town of North Elba, which shares the village of Saranac Lake with Harrietstown and St. Armand, has the highest number of active cases in Essex County at 21. Four people are hospitalized throughout Essex County.

Altogether, the number of Franklin County residents with test-confirmed cases of COVID-19 rose to 119 on Tuesday, marking another record-breaking day for this county amid the coronavirus pandemic. Seven people were recently deemed recovered by the health department, though some people who contract COVID-19 have reported experiencing long-term effects and lingering symptoms.

“We are experiencing a surge,” Franklin County Manager Donna Kissane said Tuesday. “Please be cautious and wear a face covering and physically distance. Sanitize and avoid touching your face with unclean hands.”

In Essex County, the number of residents with COVID-19 rose to 50 on Tuesday.

Between the two counties, 34 new cases were confirmed overnight for a total of 774 cases since March. Of those, 590 people have been deemed recovered by either the Franklin or Essex County Health Department.

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Not yet yellow

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Though the number of cases in Franklin County has been rising, county Public Health Director Kathleen Strack said the county doesn’t yet qualify as a “yellow zone” under state metrics. If it does qualify as a yellow zone, the county would be subject to some closures and more restrictions.

“If Franklin County reports 7.5 positive Covid-19 cases or more for ten consecutive days AND a ten day Covid positivity rate of at least 3.5%, the County will be designated a yellow zone,” Strack wrote in an email. “Reviewing number of cases in the last 10 days 11/28-12/7 the threshold metric of 7.5 cases daily is not met.”

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Sunmount spread

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Roughly half of Tupper Lake’s cases are at Sunmount, a state residence for people with developmental disabilities. Tupper Lake village Mayor and Franklin County Legislator Paul Maroun, who also sits on Sunmount’s Board of Visitors, said a recent testing session at Sunmount by Adirondack Health’s mobile unit turned up about 16 new positives, and there were 12 there before.

But the mayor’s priority is not Sunmount; it’s the rest of the community, which he said should be more careful. He noted that in Sunmount’s more secure centers, such as the CIT and the RIT, residents are not allowed to leave, “so someone is bringing it in.”

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Mayor’s warning

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Maroun said he knows several families that got together for big Thanksgiving dinners and now have numerous members in quarantine.

Therefore, starting today, he said he is having village Code Enforcement Officer Peter Edwards go to every business in the village and give them an order from him, and sign to say they received it. The order says that if the business is reported through the public health system as a place were the coronavirus was spread, there are various consequences that can be dealt out: maybe a letter from the county district attorney, maybe a court summons, possibly even a revocation of their certificate of occupancy.

“I am ready to revoke their certificate of occupancy,” Maroun said, although he doesn’t want to. “I don’t want to be mean about it. I don’t want anyone to lose a business, but at the same time — we have been fortunate.” He noted that no one from Tupper Lake or Saranac Lake has yet died of COVID-19.

“I don’t want anyone to go out of business, but at the same time, I don’t want any resident of Tupper Lake to get extremely ill or die, and thank God we’ve been very fortunate.

“All they have to do is say, ‘If you don’t have a mask, we’re not going to cash you out,'” he said of local business workers.

“I said if anyone has a complaint, they can come see me.

“There are yahoos in the North Country who just don’t believe this, and unfortunately, until someone they know is extremely ill about this or if someone dies, they just aren’t going to believe it. And I don’t care about them. I care about myself and our families.

“I’m taking it serious. I don’t know what else to do.”

Town of Tupper Lake Supervisor Patti Littlefield said she doesn’t know much about the cause of the spread but knows Adirondack Health’s mobile unit tested more than 100 people Monday at the L.P. Quinn Elementary School parking lot. She said she was surprised to hear about cases at Sunmount.

“I have been commenting all along about how lucky we are that Sunmount has been so safe,” she said Tuesday night. “Generally speaking, I always thought Tupper Lake was being pretty careful.”

She said she worries that three local day care centers have been closed due to COVID-19 contact.

She said the town is not letting people in its offices and that the town board will likely discuss the problem at its board meeting Thursday, via Zoom.

“I don’t have the answer; I wish I did. It’s scary,” she said. “I hope everybody gets nervous about it a little bit and says, ‘OK, buckle up.'”