BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz is sounding the alarm for college-aged students, especially in the University Heights district.
The county says out of the 496 positive COVID-19 cases in Erie County last week, 323 of those cases are people under the age of 30.
Poloncarz says the highest number of cases 14214 zip code, which includes much of UB’s off-campus housing. Contact tracers in Erie County found that many of the students who tested positive had attended a house party and lived off campus. 6.9% of all 18-22 year olds tested last week tested positive for COVID-19.
“And a lot of them don’t seem to care unless they get sick and a lot of them tested were sick,” said Poloncarz.
He says the Erie County Health Department will continue to work with the colleges. There has been a big emphasis on testing college students. Out of the 24,000 tests last week, almost 500 were positive for COVID-19.
