The head of the Rockland County Department of Health is stepping down later this month. Commissioner Dr. Patricia Schnabel Ruppert has served as Commissioner of Health for the last ten years, the last few years marked by three unprecedented events, the COVID-19 pandemic, the measles resurgence and the return of polio. Rockland County Executive Ed Day called her work extraordinary and thanked her for her tireless dedication to the county. A search committee has been formed to find her replacement, and to name an Interim Commissioner while the search process takes place.