Coronavirus hospitalizations reach new high in Erie County

[jmyrlefuller]

https://wben.radio.com/articles/coronavirus-hospitalizations-reach-new-high-in-erie-county

by Mark Baggerman
April 29, 2020

Erie County has set a new high in coronavirus-related hospitalizations. As of Monday, Erie County is reporting 258 hospitalizations because of COVID-19.

"We should all be discouraged," Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said after announcing the latest numbers in his Wednesday press conference. "

Poloncarz said hospital admissions exceeded discharges for the last three days of data. On April 27, there were 44 new admissions compared to 25 discharges.

"We're headed in the wrong direction, folks," Poloncarz said. "This is only because of community spread...These are people catching it from other people in the community. This is happening because people are going around and catching it from someone else. I don't know if these are essential workers on the frontlines. I don't know if these are individuals hanging out at the parks. It's quite apparent that people aren't following the guidelines because people are getting sick. It's disappointing to see."

Erie County has seen a rise in total number of hospitalizations each day since April 24.

(more at link)

[jmyrlefuller]

This is the county to the north of me.

Keep in mind: the rest of the state is on a downward trend in hospitalizations; it has to be pretty close to half of what it was at the peak two weeks ago. Buffalo can't seem to get its bleep together and our freedom down here is counting on them getting their numbers down.

New York City's R₀ is 0.8; it looks like it's still above 1.0 in Buffalo, it would seem. The lack of transparency compared to surrounding counties is a glaring issue and may be a factor.