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COVID cases up exponentially in Erie, Niagara counties

Thu, Jan 6th 2022 01:20 pm

As part of its weekly report, the Erie County Department of Health on Tuesday released the following information regarding coronavirus cases.

In Erie County, confirmed COVID-19 cases increased by approximately 160% from the previous week to 13,460 cases. A record number of COVID-19 tests were reported (roughly 67,200).

√ 20-39-year-olds are driving this surge; these age groups accounted for 43% of all cases reported this period.

√ The 30-39-year-old age group had the highest 7-day case rate per 100,000 persons (2,704).

√ The weekly positivity for the week was 20%, up from 10.4% the previous week.

√ As for hospitalizations, on Jan. 2: Erie County hospitals had 378 patients (up 26), with 62 in the ICU (down two) and 42 on an airway assist (down 3). Four people died, while 52% of the patients were aged 64 and under. Of the COVID-19 patients, 231 (61%) were not fully vaccinated; 41 of 63 ICU patients (66%) were not fully vaccinated; and 26 of 42 patients (62%) with an airway assist were not fully vaccinated.

√ The 14221 ZIP code (Amherst/Williamsville/Clarence) reported the highest number of new cases, with 812.

√ Grand Island had 303 new cases, with 212.5 new daily cases per 100,000 persons on a 7-day rolling average.

Find COVID-19 data for the week ending Jan. 1 posted to the Erie County Department of Health website at https://www2.erie.gov/health/sites/www2.erie.gov.health/files/uploads/pdfs/01012022-ECDOH-COVID-data.pdf.

√ For “Positive Tests Over Time, by Region and County,” visit https://coronavirus.health.ny.gov/positive-tests-over-time-region-and-county.

Niagara County

On Thursday, Niagara County Public Health Director Daniel J. Stapleton stated, “The surge in positive COVID-19 cases brought on by the omicron variant, the changes in testing protocols with the wide distribution of at-home test kits and the need to prioritize our resources in a manner that best serves the public health care needs of Niagara County has led us to make significant changes in our weekly update starting today and going forward. 

“We do not make these changes lightly, as we recognize that many in the public seek as much information as possible. But between the surge and other changes, the demands on staff are overwhelming and we do not want there to be any question about the accuracy of our data. 

“Therefore, we are going to rely on information tracked by New York state in regards to Niagara County and the Western New York region, which is very extensive and provides many different data points beyond what we have traditionally put in our report. We will report once a week on the latest data from the state, but any member of the public can visit the state site at https://coronavirus.health.ny.gov/covid-19-data-new-york for daily updates. Along with that change, we will be no longer be updating the county heat maps that showed COVID-19 cases by locality.” 

The Niagara County Department of Health issued the following weekly update on positive COVID-19 cases in Niagara County based on data from https://coronavirus.health.ny.gov/covid-19-data-new-york for the past week. 

*With the switch from county to state data for the tally of Niagara County fatalities, we believe there may be a lag in state reporting, thus showing no deaths in the last week, which may not be accurate. If there were indeed deaths in the last week, they will be included in next week’s report.

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