BUFFALO, N.Y. (WBEN) - As Western New York continues to aim for phase one of reopening as soon as possible, the county released its latest statistics on Wednesday on the pandemic.
There are 400 people who have died from coronavirus in Erie County as of Wednesday afternoon. 4,579 people have been tested for COVID-19.
While hospitalizations declined statewide, Western New York is again plateauing on its numbers. As of Tuesday, there were 208 hospitalizations in the region, a decline from Monday, though the numbers are up from the weekend.
Erie County itself is reporting 203 hospitalizations as of Monday, which is more than the 199 it reported on May 7.
"We're heading in the wrong direction, folks," Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said on Wednesday. "Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul yesterday noted we're not opening up on May 15 because we can't meet the standards with regards to hospitalizations."
Poloncarz said that the region was in a steady decline in hospitalizations, though there was an increase over the previous three days.
VIEW: NYS HOSPITALIZATION DATA BY REGION
Erie County has reached five of the seven criteria set by New York State that is needed for the region to begin reopening. Hospitalizations and death rate must decrease in order for Western New York to reopen.
"Trust me, folks, I want to reopen," Poloncarz said. "I want to get us reopened as quickly as possible and get our businesses back working. But we also have to do what's best to protect our community. We're all in this together from the youngest infant to the oldest adult. We're going to do what is appropriate to protect people in this community."
As of last week, nursing homes represent more than half of the people who have died in Erie County from coronavirus. However, the general population represents the majority of hospitalizations. Still, Poloncarz said he has talked to New York State about the nursing home issue.
"It is just total deaths and when we talk about deaths we are talking about people who have deceased in a hospital," Poloncarz said. "They're not counting against us (the) individuals who have deceased in nursing homes. They have counted against us (the) individuals who deceased in hospitals that may have come from nursing homes. Nursing home deaths themselves are not the driving factor. It's the number of individuals dying that were in a hospital at any one point."
