BUFFALO, N.Y. (WBEN) - Weekly new cases of COVID-19 increased again in Erie County last week but there are still no immediate plans for county-wide restrictions.
In his COVID-19 update on Wednesday, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said the county is continuing to monitor new coronavirus cases and encourages all people to wear a mask indoors and to get vaccinated.
Last week, Poloncarz announced a masking requirement for all people, even those who are fully vaccinated, in county-owned buildings.
"I don't have a specific number," Poloncarz said when asked about a threshold that would lead to new restrictions. "It's going to depend on cases as well as hospitalizations. We're not going to say that you hit this mark and that's it. If you hit the mark in cases and you have low hospitalizations, maybe it's not necessary. If all of the sudden we have a tremendous amount of new hospitalizations like they do down south, that would be something I'm concerned about."
Still, Poloncarz and others are concerned about the rising number of new cases in the community. Last week, there were 535 new cases of COVID-19. There were 279 cases the week prior. Erie County remains in the CDC's criteria of a community with "substantial" transmission but there is no forecast to indicate if, or when, Erie County reaches the "high" category.
Despite the rising number of cases, hospitalizations remain relatively low. As of Monday, there were 40 people in an Erie County hospital. Five of those people were in the ICU.
From April through July, there were 192 deaths from COVID-19 in Erie County. Of those, 182 people were not fully vaccinated prior to infection.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on Tuesday announced a vaccine requirement for indoor establishments. Poloncarz said there are no immediate plans for Erie County to follow suit.
"Before I would mandate vaccinations for private establishments, we would mandate mask wearing," Poloncarz said.
