BUFFALO, N.Y. (WBEN) - New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Friday that it would be "reckless" to re-open Bills Stadium to fans amid the high coronavirus rates in Erie County.
"This is a public health issue first," Cuomo said, adding he is disappointed in his announcement. "As I've said, I follow the advice of the public health experts. Hopefully we get the numbers under control and we continue to monitor this situation on an ongoing basis. If we get the numbers under control, I would very much look forward to watching a Bills game myself."
Five percent of test results have come back positive for COVID-19 in the last two days in Erie County. The Western New York region, which also includes Niagara, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, and Allegany Counties, had a 3.3% positive test rate reported by the state on Thursday. Western New York has the highest rate of positive tests in the state at 2.8% for the last seven days.
There are 87 people hospitalized with COVID-19 as of Nov. 4, which is more than four times some of the daily figures in August. There were 263 people hospitalized with coronavirus on April 28. Nearly 800 people have died from COVID-19 in Western New York.
Governor Cuomo said Friday he will develop a micro-cluster strategy for Western New York over the weekend. More details on the micro-cluster initiative will be announced on Monday.