BUFFALO, N.Y. (WBEN) - Coronavirus cases in Western New York continue to surge with Erie County now reporting 463 cases of coronavirus.
The confirmed cases in Erie County have more than doubled since last Thursday. Eight people have died in the pandemic while 43 have recovered.
After receipt of final test results for day from all sources, there are 463 confirmed cases of #COVIDー19 in Erie Co. 402 residents are in isolation, 1,094 are in quarantine, and another 302 have completed Q. 102 persons are admitted to Erie Co. hospitals as of 3/29, 48 in ICU. pic.twitter.com/66ImjMunVE
— Mark Poloncarz (@markpoloncarz) March 31, 2020In Monday's public update, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz and Health Commissioner Dr. Gale Burstein continued to urge people to take safety precautions such as staying at home and to avoid physical contact with people if you are out in public.
Health officials believe that there is some protective immunity that occurs after one recovers from infection, though they said more studies need to be done to confirm this.
"However, that does not mean that it's safe to get infected now to get it over with to get protection," said Burstein. "We know this can be a very, very serious illness for many people, even for young people, so people still have to practice these precautions like social distancing, hand washing and keeping frequently touched surfaces clean."
As far as school closures go, Poloncarz says they're operating under the assumption that local districts will likely be closed through April.
"We know that the schools were until April 20, but I assume that when they're about a week out from that date, they will be revisisting that and extending in to April 30," said Pooncarz. "We are not at our peak yet - I'm glad to say we're starting to see a slight reduction in the number of cases over the last couple of days, but I assume it's going to shoot right up again anyway because we're not at our peak. We are seeing continued growth in our cases, and as a result, we might not reach or peak until the end of April or early May."
