BUFFALO (WBEN) - "We've had a bit of an uptick of cases here in Erie County and Western New York," said Dr. Tom Russo, chief of Infectious Disease at the Jacobs School of Medicine. "But compared to other parts of the country, we're really still doing pretty well."
After a months-long lull in COVID-19 rates, many areas of the country are starting to see another rise in cases, enough so that it's raising alarm bells for some of the nation's top medical experts.
The U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy, even saying Sunday he's concerned about what lies ahead with millions of Americans still unvaccinated combined with the highly contagious Delta variant spreading quickly.
Los Angeles County alone is seeing roughly 10,000 new cases recorded per week, a level not reached since March. Eleven counties in California are now asking residents to wear masks again in indoor settings regardless of vaccination status.
In Western New York and Erie County, however, Russo explained that some of the more important metrics have remained steady during the uptick in local cases.
"Hospitalization rates and deaths remain at close to record lows since the start of this pandemic, and that's because we've largely protected our most vulnerable with vaccination," he said.
As of Monday afternoon, the 14-day trend for cases in Erie County is up 152% with a test positivity rate of 1% during the same time span. As Russo alluded to, hospitalization numbers have actually decreased 17% in the last two weeks.
"Over 90% of the new cases we believe are individuals who are not vaccinated, and of course, when it comes to people who are hospitalized, almost all non-vaccinated," said Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz. "Hospitalizations are still extremely low, and our new cases are low compared to where they were during the winter."
Poloncarz was asked if rules will be altered at large venues such as Highmark Stadium and Sahlen Field if cases continue to rise.
"We are going to continue to review this matter, and if by chance the numbers really shot up, then we would reconsider it," he said. "But we're not at that point yet...we're going to take out time to make that decision based on actual facts, not just a gut instinct about what it's going to be a couple months from now."
Both Russo and Poloncarz continue to urge those who have not been vaccinated at this point to do so, especially since data indicates the vaccinations are holding up against the Delta variant.
"We're doing okay but we still have work to do," said Russo. "If we don't close the deal on this with getting more people vaccinated, I think we're going to see a larger increase of cases as we head into the fall and the cooler weather months where we do a lot more activities indoors where the virus spreads much more easily."
