COVID Cases Down 20% in Erie County This Week

For the second consecutive week, the number of new COVID-19 cases has decreased in Erie County.  For the week ending December 18th, there were 3,472 new cases of COVID-19 among Erie County Residents, according to the Erie County Department of Health.  This marks a 205 case decrease from the previous week.

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The county's cases per 100,000 residents number also decreased over the last week from 455 to 364. This number, however, still far exceeds The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) case rate threshold of 100 or more cases per 100,000 which means that Erie County is still considered an area of “high transmission.”

The highest concentration of new cases in the county, occurred in the City of Buffalo itself, with 33% of the county's new cases taking place in city residents.  Numbers were also down this past week for children under 18, as new cases totals dropped about 25%.

The Erie County Department of Health offered the following advice to its residents:

ECDOH Encourages people who plan to gather with friends and family to stay home and away from others if ill. Also, COVID-19 testing is a tool to make sure you know your COVID-19 status before small gatherings, especially if other guests are elderly, have chronic medical or immunocompromising conditions, are pregnant, or unvaccinated.

Erie County had also announced earlier this week, that their Public Health Lab has added testing for influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) to the COVID-19 PCR testing which is offered through the Erie County Department of Health.

The Erie County Department of Health is offering FREE COVID-19 tests by calling  716-858-2929 to schedule an appointment, as appointments are required. The county recommends calling after 10 am to avoid long waits.

You can see the New York State Department of Health COVID-19 testing locations by CLICKING HERE.