WNY's Covid-19 hospitalizations hit lowest levels since the crisis began

This comes as a relief to local officials, who grew anxious when the phase four reopening for Western New York initially led to a rise in hospitalizations from early to mid-July.   

The trend also runs contrary to what's happening in many other parts of the country. 

Erie County, the primary driver of hospitalizations for the five-county region, has seen its daily hospitalizations for the past several days sit at their lowest levels since the county started releasing the data on March 23.

There are still problems, however. 

Erie County residents keep dying: Six have died from the virus over the past week, bringing the total number of deaths to 669 as of early Wednesday. Those ages 70 and older comprise 80% of all Erie County deaths.

Also, the county has found a small cluster of Covid-19 positive cases among church goers from New Zion Baptist Church in Buffalo, prompting the Erie County Health Department to schedule its first pop-up diagnostic testing site. It will be in the church parking lot Friday.

County Executive Mark Poloncarz said he's pleased to see hospitalization levels remain relatively low and stable after the phase four reopening initially sent more people to the hospital. The number of Western New York hospitalizations hovered in the 30s and low 40s from late June to early July, but crept back up to 51 cases by July 13.

"We were highlighting that this bump is going up, and it was directly related to reopening," he said. "We think people started to say, 'Hey, we don't want to go backwards.' And as a result, I think more precautions are being taken because they've seen what's happened elsewhere." 

Poloncarz also said Covid-19 testing suggests that many seniors continue to exercise strong precautions throughout the reopening. That does not appear to be the case for county residents in their 20s and 30s who now comprise roughly half of all newly confirmed cases.

Younger adults, however, are at much lower risk for developing a serious illness requiring hospitalization, he said.

The number of confirmed Erie County cases now exceeds 8,400 people, according to the state.

This past week, contact tracers determined that a small cluster of Covid-19 positive residents all attended church services and activities over the past month at New Zion Baptist Church at 313 High Street in Buffalo.

Health Commissioner Dr. Gale Burstein said this is the first time county contact tracers have found a potential cluster of cases, resulting in the creation of an impromptu Covid-19 testing site.

Poloncarz said fewer than 10 individuals with the church were found to be infected, but they were not all from the same family, prompting concern that the church may have a larger outbreak. As a result, the county and church pastor have worked to put together the county's first pop-up Covid-19 diagnostic test site as a result of contact tracing efforts.

"We haven't talked about locations where people have frequented because we generally have not seen clusters," Poloncarz said. "It's not surprising for someone to say that I have Covid-19 and I went to a grocery store, or I went to a church, I went to this, I went to that. But this is a situation where our contact tracers identified a known location where multiple people who all tested positive said they were."

In response to questions regarding whether any infected church members became seriously ill or if they were practicing proper social distancing, Burstein said it's not the county's policy to release specific information regarding the cases. The Buffalo News reached out to the church pastor, but the message was not returned.

Friday's diagnostic testing in the New Zion Baptist Church parking lot will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and will be open to both walk-up and drive-thru traffic. Unlike regular diagnostic testing offered by the county, for which an appointment is needed, church members, their families and any other interested residents need no appointment to be tested at this four-hour city location.