BUFFALO (WBEN) - Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul visited the Jacobs School of Medicine Friday to provide a COVID-19 update in conjunction with university doctors.
As has been a major talking point for the duration of the pandemic, they implored Western New York residents to continue wearing masks, suggesting that even a 5% decrease in mask compliance could cause a bump in local cases, which would in turn lead to more hospitalizations.
"We heard some encouraging numbers in Western New York, and they're actually even more encouraging in Erie County - we're at 1.1% for a seven-day rolling average for test positivity," said Chief of Infectious Disease Dr. Tom Russo. "However, having said that, the virus is out there, it's lurking in our community, and there are many, many susceptible individuals that remain in Erie County, Western New York, the state and around the world - we're probably only at about maybe 15% at most that have been infected, which probably confers at least some short term immunity."
Hochul talked extensively about any potential vaccine, saying they'd prefer a strong and unified federal response in terms of implementation and deployment instead of leaving every state to figure it out on their own.
"Right now, we're focusing on the distribution of this vaccine," said Hochul. "Think about the fact that there 19 million New Yorkers - if everyone were to be vaccinated, we're talking about 40 million doses, as it takes two doses for the vaccine to be effective...that's the deployment that we're working on right now. The governor, as chair of the National Governors Association, has called upon the White House on behalf of a bipartisan group of governors to really release a nationwide strategy," she continued.
However, Hochul again challenged the efficacy of whatever vaccine comes from the federal government, saying she's not sure she would trust it.
"The governor is also going to run the vaccine through our own rigorous tests," she said. "We have incredible experts in our own state who will be able to test this vaccine when it is available to make sure it's exactly what we want for New Yorkers, and know that it's going to be safe an effective."
"The President has already politicized those agencies, they've already reversed positions that they publicly stated after getting pressure from the White House," Hochul continued. "If it did come out before the election, we're not sure that we would trust that because that would be undermining decades of prior research that says you have to have a longer testing time."
