When Eden Supervisor Melissa Hartman received a call from a town resident Tuesday afternoon, she heard a question she couldn't answer.
The resident asked why Eden's total number of Covid-19 cases on the Erie County Health Department's' online map had shown a sudden, drastic increase.
Hartman didn't learn why until late Tuesday night: a cluster of 38 new Covid-19 cases in Eden, all stemming from a single source of exposure.
That more than doubled Eden's total for the entire pandemic, bringing its total to 75 cases.
"I called and reached out to the deputy county executive to ask her if those numbers were correct, and she got back to me and let me know everything that’s been going on," said Hartman, referring to Maria Whyte.
Well, not quite everything. Hartman said she has not been told the source of the infection.
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“I would have probably liked a little bit more of a heads-up if there was a situation in my town," Hartman said. "However, that didn’t occur and that’s fine at this point. When I was informed, we put a statement out. I didn’t have all the answers until late (Tuesday) night. When we were informed I asked for all the information to be released that was allowed to be released.”
The Health Department issued a news release Wednesday morning, which also didn't reveal the source of the 38 infections.
"At this time the risk for community transmission of Covid-19 from these cases is considered to be very low," according to the release.
“The individuals with a positive test result are currently in isolation, and their close contacts have been placed in quarantine,” said Erie County Health Commissioner Dr. Gale Burstein.
Hartman posted on a public Facebook page Wednesday afternoon to try to reassure worried residents.
"All 38 people who tested positive have had contract tracing done. If you have not been contacted you should feel confident that you were not exposed," Hartman wrote. "The source is not being released by the ECDOH because they are confident that anyone who had potential exposure has been contacted. They would only release that information if they felt the general public was at a greater risk for exposure and they aren’t able to successfully identify those at risk."
"I agree with that policy," Hartman told The Buffalo News. "If there’s not a need, and there’s no high risk to my residents or the public, then I’m not sure why that has to be revealed."
Some did not seem so reassured. "Please release the cluster location. People are frightened, rumors are flying ... don’t keep the good people of Eden in the dark, it’s cruel," read a comment posted on the Eden Town of New York Community page.
Health Department spokeswoman Kara Kane said Wednesday the investigation of the cluster has been completed. She disclosed no further information.
"We took this approach based on our initial case investigation of several confirmed cases associated with a common site last week, which indicated the potential for a larger outbreak from this site," Burstein said in the news release.
“As we said when announcing the cluster of cases at New Zion Baptist Church in July, we will see more situations where a cluster of cases forms around a shared activity or location," Burstein said.
The only recent large gathering Hartman knows of in Eden was a "coffee and cards" event Saturday at the American Legion hall. Town police monitored it to make sure the gathering didn't exceed Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's mandated maximum of 50 people.
At any rate, Hartman said, the testing on the cluster already was being done over the weekend at the state Health Department's Wadsworth Laboratory in Albany, so the coffee klatch had nothing to do with it.
There were rumors online about possible sources, but Hartman said she couldn't confirm them.
“I’m sure there have been residents who have had parties. I assume they’re doing that under 50 people as best they can," Hartman said.
“I think it’s an important time for us to reflect on the fact that the pandemic has not gone away despite the state and county numbers being much lower than we’ve experienced in the past, that the virus still exists, that we need to practice proper hand-washing, proper social distancing, continue to wear masks and continue to be valiant in understanding that it only takes one person to affect many, and that’s why the policies that are put in place should be followed," Hartman said.
