The recent uptick in cases of Covid-19 has moved Erie County from the low-risk transmission category into the medium-risk transmission category, County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz announced Wednesday on Twitter.
However, Poloncarz did not mention in his tweet the prospect of any potential change in protocols for combatting the disease.
The impact of the recently discovered BA.2 subvariant of the Omicron strain has been limited and it is nowhere near as serious as the first model of Omicron, now called BA.1, which crowded hospitals for several weeks during and after the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.
According to Poloncarz’s tweet, data from the Erie County Department of Health revealed that there were 433 new Covid-19 cases among Erie County residents Tuesday.
“Based on the the new case rate of 219 cases per 100,000 residents for a seven-day period, Erie Co. is now in the ‘Medium’ risk category for transmission,” Poloncarz tweeted.
“Thankfully, hospitalizations remain low: 43 in total, only 18 for COVID,” he added.
“We need to start this conversation by emphasizing that if you are unvaccinated against Covid-19, the single most important thing you can do for yourself and your loved ones is to please get vaccinated,” said Dr. Thomas Russo, professor and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases in the University at Buffalo Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.
Kara Kane, a spokesperson for Erie County Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Gale R. Burstein, said Tuesday’s total of 433 new cases of Covid-19 does not include results taken from at-home tests.
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“We do receive some at-home test reports through our online reporting form, but these are not included in our total, nor are they used to calculate our case rate or positivity rate. With the current, more widespread, availability of at-home COVID-19 tests, our data do not completely capture the scope of countywide cases or community transmission,” Kane said in an email to The News on Wednesday.
Read More: Poloncarz reports jump in Covid-19 cases, but no changes in current virus protocols | Local News