BUFFALO (WBEN) - As was announced last week, higher-risk sports will be allowed to resume in Erie County, as the state left that determination up to individual health departments last week.
Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz and County Health Commissioner Dr. Gale Burstein held their weekly COVID-19 update Tuesday afternoon, and they explained some of the health and safety mandates.
ECDOH announcement on updates to NY Forward Sports and Recreation guidelines. https://t.co/jKIKcFve4n /12 pic.twitter.com/K7rWEbgraJ
— Erie County Department of Health 😷 (@ECDOH) January 26, 2021
According to Poloncarz, they are going to allow games and competitions to be played on February 1st, but he said "there are rules that need to be followed."
For example, each team is responsible for screening all athletes and coaches before every team activity; athletes will be required to wear a mask while not playing or participating; locker room use is strongly discouraged; spectators must wear masks and they will be limited to two per player; indoor sports facilities will be limited to 50% capacity; sports travel outside the Western New York and Finger Lakes regions is strongly discouraged; the current New York State travel advisory guidance still applies to athletes and coaches; teams from other counties in the Western New York and Finger Lakes regions will be permitted to travel into Erie County for competition.
Burstein added that an individual's vaccine status does not change or alter the requirements for sports at this time.
"One of the conversations we had with New York State and I had specifically with members of the governor's office is that this is in the hands of the local health departments, and if there are issues, you can shut down an entire league," said Poloncarz. "I want the teams, coaches and parents to understand that New York State has given them an opportunity to play sports, but if we see numbers rising, if we see cases attributable to sports, we not only will require the shutdown of the teams, we could require the shutdown of the entire league.
"It's in everyone's best interest to follow the rules and do their best because if we find out that there are those that are not following the rules, we can just shut it down, and the state has granted us the power to do it," Poloncarz continued. "We don't want to do it, and we hope everybody will follow the rules properly, but if we find out they're not, or if there are a number of cases emanating as a result of sports being played...we do have the power to shut it down."
As for the most up to date COVID numbers, Poloncarz is encouraged about where the county is heading. As of January 24, the seven-day positivity rate stands at 5.2%. There are 409 COVID patients in Western New York hospitals, 314 of which are in Erie County.
Poloncarz added that the county is seeing drops in cases across the board in urban, suburban and rural areas.
"That's a good sign, let's keep it going."
