Millions of vaccines are in the arms of New Yorkers, but Western New York's positivity rate is rising again. Western New York's positivity rate is over 6%, the seven-day rolling average is above 4%.
“We are, what we believe to be, in a new wave,” said Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz.
Health officials say the spread is mainly among young people. Most new cases coming from people younger than 40.
“We're seeing an increase in a number of kids under 20, every week, that are testing positive,” said Gale Burstein, the Erie County Health Commissioner.
The county also credits the rise in COVID-19 cases among kids to youth sports and at least four variants of the virus spreading in the community.
From our contact tracing team - where are we seeing outbreaks and clusters?
— Erie County Department of Health 😷 (@ECDOH) April 6, 2021
Youth Sports
Hockey, dance studios, cheerleading, football, volleyball & basketball
Day cares
Restaurants
Churches
Small businesses – not screening employees /21 pic.twitter.com/ZILJ17NIuK
Despite this, a spokesperson said that the Buffalo Public Schools still plan on moving forward with their reopening plans.
Covid-19 hospitalizations have risen by 50% in Erie County over the past week. Deaths are down, especially among the older population.
Mortality Data: Total COVID-19 related deaths from March 1, 2020 to April 1, 2021: 1,740 (1,274 in 2020 and 466 in 2021)
— Erie County Department of Health 😷 (@ECDOH) April 6, 2021
Our community lost 61 residents in March to COVID-19. /12 pic.twitter.com/PDkCvUgkje
“Thankfully we have the vaccine. If we didn't have the vaccine, I'd hate to see what the numbers we would have right now,” said Poloncarz.
