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Takeaways from the latest Erie County COVID-19 data and an update on hospitalizations

According to new data released by Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz showed an increase of one hospitalization in the region from June 8.

BUFFALO, N.Y. — As of 5 p.m. on Tuesday night, Erie County has conducted 85,120 diagnostic tests for COVID-19, of which 6,543 have been positive. This means that 7.7% of diagnostic tests have come back positive. There have been 580 deaths from the virus in Erie County.

Additionally, 56,007 antibody tests have been conducted.

Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz shared new statistics via Twitter Wednesday on the coronavirus pandemic. 

There are a few main takeaways from the data Poloncarz shared:

  • The majority of those getting tested for antibodies do not have them. Only 4.7% of those tested for antibodies this past week were positive. Since April, 7.1% of all tested for antibodies since April were positive.
  • Buffalo residents have died at a lower percentage rate than overall percentage of population. Buffalo residents have accounted for 24.3% of COVID-19 fatalities in Erie County. Buffalo residents make up 27.9% of Erie County's population. 
  • Buffalo makes up nearly half of COVID-19 cases in the county. Buffalo residents make up 27.9% of Erie County's population, but accounted for 45% of COVID-19 cases. Meanwhile, the rest of Erie County accounts for 72.1% of the population and 55% of COVID-19 cases. 
  • Just slightly over half of deaths have been male. In Erie County, males made up 53% of the deaths.
  • Statistically, the percentage of people dying from COVID-19 by race has been close to the percentage of people that are of each race/ethnicity in Erie County. White residents have accounted for 81.6% of fatalities and make up 80.6%. Black or African American residents have accounted for 16.2% of fatalities and make up 14.6% of the population.

More on Hospitalizations and Last Week

According to new data released Wednesday, the Western New York region saw an increase of one COVID-19 related hospitalization, but Erie County's hospitalization numbers stayed put. 

Poloncarz tweeted the new numbers Wednesday morning showing that COVID-19 hospitalizations in Western New York increased from 112 to 113 based on the most recent data. In Erie County, there are 98 people hospitalized with COVID-19.

The Erie County Health Department conducted 3,864 tests from June 6 and 8. Just 1.4% of those tests came back positive. Since the outbreak began 6,543 people in the county have tested positive, 580 have died. Hospitalizations across all age categories, except for 85 and older, have declined during that time period.

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