BUFFALO, N.Y. — Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz and Erie County Health Commissioner Dr. Gale Burstein provided an update into the COVID-19 pandemic in Erie County on Thursday, November 19.
Poloncarz stated the county has seen a new record high for positive COVID-19 cases in a single day on Wednesday, with 651 new cases reported.
The daily positivity rate in Erie County was 7.8% on November 18.
"I am very worried about where we will be in the next few days," Poloncarz stated, adding that hospitalizations are close to what they were in April in Erie County. "There has been rapid increase in hospitalizations in the last few days."
There were 220 people admitted to Western New York hospitals as of Tuesday. The day before, there were 185 people in the hospitals with COVID-19.
For context, Poloncarz shared that there were 84 people in Erie County hospitals with COVID-19 on November 10, but within days that number increased to 179.
Dr. Burstein talked about staying healthy and monitoring mental health during these times. She urged people to get outside, practice deep breathing and pick up a hobby or an exercise, such as yoga.
2 On Your Side's Kelly Dudzik live tweeted the news conference, and you can look through her thread of tweets below:
She also asked Poloncarz what he thinks about people going into the Yellow Zone to go to the gym or get their hair done.
"Some of the areas that are in Erie County that are in the Yellow Zone have the highest positivity rates over the last week or so. So, you're putting yourself at risk and potentially transmitting it to other places, as well. I would just recommend to folks try to stay in your own lane, so to speak, from the standpoint of you might not know what you're driving into. I do know that some of the highest rates for the last few days, and the last week, positivity rates, based on municipalities were in Elma, North Collins, Town of Boston," said Poloncarz.
We've gotten a lot of questions about why only certain businesses have to close and others can stay open as long we we don't move into the Red Zone. Here's what the county executive had to say about that.
"It's everywhere. People are walking around our community right now, probably going to a gym or a restaurant, that are asymptomatic, and they may have it, and not know it, and they could shed that virus. That's why the community spread growth has been so quick lately is because it is everywhere. So, any location that says we've never had anyone walk in here who was COVID-19 positive, you can not say that because you probably did. Maybe you got lucky and the person wasn't shedding the virus, but it's bad and it's everywhere," said Poloncarz.
And as far as schools go, the county says it has identified a few cases where they believe transmission happened at school.