Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Welcome to the 'yellow cluster zone' previously known as Erie County. Most of the population zone of Erie County is now within a newly designated COVID 'yellow cluster zone' after new guidance was released from New York Governor Andrew Cuomo Monday.
The new guidance for the region comes as the COVID rate for the county and region has hovered near 5% for days, the highest in New York State.
Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz is taking the status seriously but sees this as somewhat of a reprieve from what could have happened. "We have an opportunity to prevent shutdowns," said Poloncarz as he detailed what the 'yellow zone' status means for life in Erie County. Poloncarz says things could get a lot worse if the region were to slip in its COVID status and fall into the 'orange' or 'red' zone designation.
What does it mean for life in Erie County?
"It means you can still have gatherings, but no larger than 25 people," started Poloncarz as he walked through the stipulations now in place for communities from the populated northtowns, cities of Buffalo and Lackawanna and down through the southtowns. Additional restrictions include 50% or less occupancy as houses of worship, four per table maximum at bars and restaurants and those restaurants and bars must close by midnight.
Among the more stringent new restrictions in place are for school districts in the 'yellow zone'.
"Schools can still stay in person session, however the school districts are going to be required to do testing of their staff as well as their students....for at least 20% of the total population of the school on a weekly basis," says Poloncarz. The schools will be responsible for the testing. After the schools perform the testing, the results will be returned to the Erie County Department of Health for input into the New York State tracking system.
Poloncarz and other public health officials are pleading with the community to abide by the new restrictions, follow social distancing and wear masks. Additional enforcement resources will be provided by New York State and the county and local law enforcement will continue to monitor compliance according to Poloncarz.
If the rate were to get worse and the county were to slip into the 'orange' category, businesses such as gyms, movie theaters and barber shops would be forced to close again.
"I'm hopeful this is as bad as it gets," says Poloncarz.
