As positive rate hits 2 percent, state to send 'SWAT' testing team to WNY

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said Thursday morning that the state is sending a "SWAT team" from the health department that will provide more testing in several Western New York locations. 

"For Western New York, we have a caution flag out," Cuomo said, using a comparison he has mentioned at least two other times this week, "and we're going to fly it a little bit higher today."

The governor said the Western New York region's positive test rate for Wednesday was 2%. That rate represents the percentage of coronavirus tests that were positive. 

"That’s not good news," Cuomo said in a conference call from Albany, "and we’re going to deploy a SWAT team from the Department of Health that is going to do additional testing at eight sites."

Wednesday's results also increased Western New York's seven-day rolling average of its positive test rate to 2%, the first time it has hit that mark since early June.

Western New York has had the highest daily rate among the state's nine regions for seven straight days. The region's 118 new cases Wednesday marked the first time it exceeded 100 daily cases since May.

Cuomo said three testing sites would operate in Buffalo, as well as one each in Niagara Falls, Lockport, Dunkirk, Amherst and West Seneca. He said the state would have machines that provide same-day testing, with results "literally in an hour."

"We’re focusing on Western New York and we are going to continue to do that," the governor said.

The new testing sites will open Saturday. Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said via Twitter that his office has been working with state officials on the new sites. 

The five-county Western New York region (Erie, Niagara, Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, Allegany) has now posted a positive test rate above 1% for nine straight days.

Cuomo said earlier this week that the regional increase was due to several factors, including clusters at the Fieldbrook Foods food processing plant in Dunkirk and an unidentified steel plant in Erie County, as well as increased cases from two unidentified nursing homes, seasonal farm labor and hospital screening procedures.

Gareth Rhodes, the deputy superintendent and special counsel at the state's Department of Financial Services and a member of the state's Covid-19 task force, said Thursday that 53 total cases have been tracked to the Dunkirk plant.   

"We're also seeing some cases as a result of community spread," Rhodes said. "This testing effort is going to be testing members of the community where clusters are located."

The governor said any further action the state takes would depend on the results of the additional "rapid testing" sites. 

"We'll know the same day what's happening, we won't have a two- or three-day lag," said Cuomo. "We'll have a snapshot of exactly what's happening, and depending on what we see, we'll act accordingly.

"There's no hard number that we have, that goes from a yellow flag to a red flag." 

Western New York's seven-day rolling average, which averages the previous seven days' positive results into one figure, had been at 1% since the second week of June. The last time the region's rolling average as at 2% was June 9, as the testing rates for the region, and the state, descended from the worst days of the 180-day pandemic. 

Western New York's rise in rate has come when the overall state numbers have been among their lowest of the coronavirus pandemic. 

The statewide coronavirus positive test rate was 0.9%, the 20th straight day the state has been under 1%. Among the 83,437 test results reported to the state, 791 were positive. 

Of those positive cases, 118 were from Western New York. The last time the region's total was over 100 was when 198 cases were reported on May 22. Western New York conducted 5,983 tests Wednesday, according to state data, for a positive test rate of 1.97%.

As of yet, there has been no corresponding recent increase in hospitalizations in the region, according to state data. Western New York's hospitalization total for Wednesday was 25; that dally total has been in the 20s for most of this month. The last time it was higher was Aug. 3, when the total was 38. 

The region's total of cases continued to be driven by its most populous county. According to state data, Erie County had 79 cases Wednesday, which was second only to New York City's 315. Erie County had 81 cases last Thursday, which was its highest one-day total since May. 

Based on county records, Erie County's current 10-day rolling average of 49.7 positive cases per day is its highest since June 10. 

Erie County's positive test rate is at a seven-day rolling average of 1.8%, which has increased every day for more than a week and is as its highest point since it was 1.9% on June 12.  

The increase in Western New York cases is also due to higher totals from Chautauqua County and the Fieldbrook Foods outbreak.

The state reported 30 cases from Chautauqua County for Wednesday; state task force member Rhodes said many of those were related to Fieldbrook Foods.

Chautauqua County's seven-day rolling average of its positive test rate is 2.0%, which is the highest it has been since May.

The remaining Wednesday cases from the Western New York region's counties were: Five from Niagara, three from Cattaraugus and one from Allegany.