BUFFALO, N.Y. (WBEN) - There are still efforts to get Erie County out of the state's orange zone and lingering frustration that some businesses are being treated unfairly compared to other businesses in New York State where the positive test rates are higher than Erie County's.
"I truly thought we would be in the yellow zone by this point," Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said Tuesday during his weekly coronavirus briefing. "We should be treated fairly. We did deserve to go in the cluster zone based on the statistics and the numbers we saw when we were put in the orange. Unfortunately, many other areas are surpassing us with regards to hospitalizations and percentage positive and they have not been put in the orange zone."
Erie County has been in an orange zone since mid-November. The orange zone limits gyms, barber shops, and personal care services to 25% capacity. Houses of worship are also limited to 33% maximum capacity or 25 people, whichever is lower. It wasn't until last week that New York State gave restaurants in the orange zone the ability to have indoor dining, though it came on the heels of a lawsuit by more than 90 restaurants in Western New York.
"We are doing much better," Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul said Monday about the positive test rates in Erie County. "We've gone from nearly 8% on our 7-day average to a little over 6%, so we're making improvements there."
Though significantly smaller in population than Erie County, Lewis County in North Country has the highest 7-day average of positive coronavirus tests at 13.8%. Erie County's 7-day positive test rate is 5.9%, which is less than the average is among all counties in New York State. Erie County also has a better 7-day positive test rate compared to the other counties of Western New York.
According to the state's cluster zone metrics, a geographic area is eligible for an orange zone if the 7-day positive rate is 4% over 10 days and in a reach that has reached 85% hospital capacity. However, the state has discretion to give an area an orange zone if the hospital admissions is "unacceptable high and a zone designation is appropriate to control the rate of growth."
"There's constant conversations, myself included, having those conversations with Albany about just that," Hochul said about the disparity between Erie County and other counties that have a higher 7-day rate.
