New York (WBEN) - "This is the challenging period," said New York Governor Andrew Cuomo in opening his COVID update for New York State Sunday.
"The post-holiday increase is purely a function of what we do and New Yorkers have already proven their toughness, but as Thanksgiving and the holiday season approaches, we need to stay the course," said Cuomo. :I believe the COVID rate will increase," said Cuomo. "The only question is how much and how fast."
Gov. Cuomo says noted that the positive testing rate in all focus areas under the state's Micro-Cluster strategy is 4.39 percent, and outside the focus zone areas is 2.29 percent. Within the focus areas, 42,198 test results were reported yesterday, yielding 1,853 positives. In the remainder of the state, not counting these focus areas, 154,410 test results were reported, yielding 3,538 positives.
In Western New York the seven day rolling average stands at 5.06%. In the Erie orange zone the seven day rolling average is 7.25% and the Erie yellow zone is at 7.36%. The Niagara County yellow zone seven day average is at 4.44%.
There were two deaths attributed to COVID in Erie County Saturday and one in Niagara County.
Cuomo says the Western New York COVID rate for Saturday is the highest in the state at 6% and he notes many communities in the region with even higher rates, most notably Lancaster with perhaps the highest community rate in the state Saturday at 9.17%. "Nine percent, that must be the highest in the state," said Cuomo Sunday. Other local community rates Saturday include: Hamburg 8/7%, West Seneca 8.3%, Cheektowaga 8.25%, Orchard Park 6.95%, Tonawanda 6.8% and Williamsville 5.73%.
It's expected we will learn Wednesday if parts of Erie County will shift to a red zone and Cuomo warns if the situation doesn't improve this week, he expects parts of the cities of Rochester and Syracuse to shift to orange status.
