Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Despite setting another record for daily COVID cases on Monday, Erie County will remain at 'phase one' of its four phase response plan.
"We set another record yesterday," said County Executive Mark Poloncarz as he opened his weekly COVID briefing Tuesday afternoon. There were 1368 new COVID cases reported in the county Monday and a daily positivity rate of 17.1%.
Poloncarz ticked-off a series of statistics regarding COVID in the county and commented, "None of these are good numbers."
There appears to be no boundaries for COVID geographically or demographically, according to Poloncarz who notes the numbers are spiking across urban and rural areas. The Elmwood Village in Buffalo is among one of the areas of concern. "Twenty to 39-year-olds are driving this surge," he said.
One piece of good news comes in the latest hospitalization numbers for the county as they have shrunk somewhat. General hospital occupancy across the county is down and at 79.4 percent while ICU occupancy is at 77.75 percent. Poloncarz credits the mask mandate for helping to stabilize hospital occupancy since its implementation a month ago.
The vast majority of those hospitalized with COVID remain unvaccinated, says Poloncarz. "If you are not vaccinated you are at high risk of serious illness or death."
Both Poloncarz and Health Commissioner Dr. Gale Burstein focused much of the briefing on masks, urging the public to wear tight-fitting but comfortable face coverings, citing the N95 mask as the gold standard. The county will be distributing 400,000 masks in the coming days, says Poloncarz.
Following the CDC endorsement of 'test to stay' as a method of helping to keep kids in schools, Dr. Burstein announced Tuesday the county will expand the 'test to stay' program to all schools in the county. "We are ready to work with our schools," said Burstein. "Not every school may be eligible or interested." To date, only the Grand Island Schools have been participating in a trial 'test to stay' program which has been described as a success.
Recently New York State announced it would be distributing home test kits statewide and Erie County is still awaiting its allotment. Poloncarz says the initial shipments of home tests went to school districts.
Burstein cautions the public about relying too heavily on home test kits, urging follow-up with pcr lab testing. "The rapid tests may not tell the whole story," she says.
