BUFFALO, N.Y. (WBEN) – Erie County has expanded its coronavirus testing to include anyone who feels like they've been exposed to the virus, regardless of whether or not they are feeling a symptom of the disease.
Under older guidelines, all people had to isolate themselves until their test results came back. Now, only those who are showing symptoms related to coronavirus must isolate themselves until their test results come back. People without symptoms can go out publicly, even as they await their results.
"You have to monitor your symptoms," Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said. "If you develop symptoms between the time you are tested and the time you receive your results, you have to isolate. That means no work if you are working, not going out in public, and it also means you have to isolate yourself from the people in your home."
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A person who is not showing the common effects of coronavirus can still spread the disease unknowingly. Poloncarz explained the change in protocol was necessary because many of those who are tested work in industries where they can't be isolated, such as nursing homes and hospitals.
"If a nursing home was tested and every single individual of the staff who was tested had to isolate for two weeks or until they had their result, a week, there would be no staff at the nursing home. We also believe that to meet the testing guidelines that the governor required…we have to start testing asymptomatic individuals, not just testing symptomatic individuals. If we were to test solely symptomatic individuals, we would probably never meet the governor's guideline."
The Western New York region must test 30 people per 1,000 residents each month in order to fit the reopening guidelines by New York State. So far, Erie County has conducted 20,734 tests while Niagara County, Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, and Allegany counties added another 6,872.
