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(Chart: Erie County Hospitalization Data, last four weeks (July 11-Aug. 8, 2021)/data sources: New York State Department of Health and Erie County hospitals)
(Chart: Erie County Hospitalization Data, last four weeks (July 11-Aug. 8, 2021)/data sources: New York State Department of Health and Erie County hospitals)

COVID cases continue to rise in Erie County

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Wed, Aug 11th 2021 10:35 am

Erie County Department of Health provides COVID-19 data update for week ending Aug. 7

The Erie County Department of Health on Tuesday provided an update on COVID-19 data. For the week ending Aug. 7, 2021, ECDOH received reports for 650 new COVID-19 cases among Erie County residents; this is a 23% increase from the previous week’s total of 529 cases, a nearly 10-fold increase in the past five weeks. The COVID-19 case rate of 70.7 cases per 100,000 residents in the past seven days for the week ending Aug. 7 is an increase from the previous week’s case rate of 57.6. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) set a case rate threshold of 50-99 for a community to be considered to have “substantial transmission.”

The numbers revealed 37% of new COVID-19 cases last week were in City of Buffalo residents, which is similar to recent weeks. Moreover, 39 ZIP codes had five or more new COVID-19 cases last week, which indicates a communitywide increase in COVID-19 transmission. Three of the four highest seven-day case rates by ZIP code last week were in a Buffalo city ZIP code: 14215, 14211 and 14206. The 14215 and 14225 ZIP codes had case rates of over 100 cases per 100,000 persons over a seven-day period, indicating high transmission in those areas per CDC indicators.

A press release stated, “Total diagnostic COVID-19 test reports increased to nearly 21,000 tests last week, compared to the previous week’s total of about 16,000. ECDOH and health care providers within Erie County still have substantial diagnostic testing capacity. People who are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms, regardless of vaccination status, should strongly consider a diagnostic COVID-19 test. Free tests are available through ECDOH by calling 716-858-2929 to schedule an appointment.”

Last week was the fourth consecutive week of increased COVID-19 case totals, though the weekly total is still well below the weekly case totals experiences last winter and spring. The 20-29-year-old age group had a seven-day case rate per 100,000 people of 127, and 30-39-year-old age group seven-day case rate was 109. Both were both significantly higher than the overall seven-day case rate for Erie County, which was 71.

Case counts were highest last week in the 20-29 and 30-39-year-old age groups, while the 11-13-year-old (6.1%) and 14-17-year-old (5.9%) age groups had the highest proportion of positive tests. The ECDOH Office of Epidemiology is monitoring COVID-19 trends in child and adolescent age groups closely. There were 114 cases aged 17 and younger last week, an increase from the previous week’s 98-case total.

With 63 COVID-19 hospitalizations reported in Erie County hospitals for Aug. 8, hospitalized COVID-19 patients in Erie County have continued to increase, as have ICU patients.

ECDOH is reporting COVID-19 mortality data. ECDOH received reports of three deaths associated with COVID-19 in the past seven days. Total COVID-19-related deaths from March 2020 to Aug. 5, 2021, now stand at 1,933, with 657 reported in 2021. Of the 195 reported COVID-19 associated deaths in April, May, June, July and August 2021 through Aug. 5, 94% (184) of these deaths were in persons who were not fully vaccinated against COVID-19 prior to infection.

Additional data, including vaccination estimates by ZIP code, are posted to the ECDOH web site. NYSDOH also updates vaccination data by demographics, by county and by ZIP code. From NYSDOH data, as of Aug. 9, 2021, 72.6% of adults ages 18 and older have at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine; 46.5% of 12-15-year-olds and 52.8% of 16-17-year-olds in Erie County have at least one vaccine dose.

ECDOH has an active schedule of COVID-19 vaccine clinics, listed at www.erie.gov/vax, and will also vaccinate any eligible Erie County resident at their home. Call 716-858-2929 for the “Vax Visit” program. ECDOH will offer Pfizer and Moderna vaccine for the duration of the Erie County Fair outside the Expo Building, Aug. 11-22.

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