New York's coronavirus infection numbers continue to be very good.
The same can't be said for Western New York's.
According to state data released Friday morning by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's office, Erie County on Thursday posted its highest daily number of positive cases since May, while Western New York's infection rate has been the highest in the state for two of the last three days.
Erie County had 81 positive Covid-19 tests on Thursday, according to the state.
That's the county's highest number of positives since May 22, when it recorded 155. Erie County's total hasn't even been in the 70s since June 5, when it hit 70, according to the state.
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Erie County's Thursday case total was second only to New York City (286) and significantly higher than the next two counties, Long Island's Nassau (50) and Suffolk (47).
“Even though we received 81 positive COVID test results in one day, these specimens were collected over a period of a couple of weeks," Dr. Gale Burstein, Erie County's health commissioner, said in a statement. "Also, we are currently investigating these cases and our contact tracers are notifying close contacts and placing them in quarantine to break the chain of community transmission. Although we follow daily test result numbers, more importantly, we follow trends and potential clusters. We will reassess with tomorrow’s results."
The governor's update also showed that the Western New York region's infection rate has been significantly higher than the rest of the state over the last three days.
For Thursday, Western New York had the highest infection rate at 1.6%, with no other region above 1%.
On Wednesday, Western New York was at 1%, with only the North Country higher at 1.2%.
On Tuesday, Western New York was again the highest in the state with a rate of 1.4%, while all other regions were below 1%.
The state considers the Western New York region to be Erie, Niagara, Chautauqua, Cattaraugus and Allegany counties.
The Western New York region still has a seven-day rolling average that is rounded down to 1%, a number that has been steady for more than two months and matches six of the state's other regions. The North Country and Southern Tier have a seven-day rolling average below 0.5%.
As of 11 a.m. Friday, Erie County had not yet announced its case total for Thursday.
The county's daily totals often differ slightly from the state's due to discrepancies including tests administered in Erie County on individuals from outside Erie County, or circumstances such as the timing and/or reporting of tests.
County records, via their online map's daily confirmed cases chart, list the last time Erie County had a daily total higher than 81 as May 26, when it had 94; the last date the county has a daily positive test total at 70 or higher is listed as June 4 (70).
New York's statewide coronavirus metrics were among its best of the pandemic. The state recorded a record number of tests Thursday, while its infection rate remained under 1% for the 14th straight day.
The state reported a record 98,880 tests Thursday, more than 10,000 more than the previous high (88,688). Of those tests, 709 tests were positive, for a rate of 0.72%, one of the lowest rates recorded by the state.
The state also marked a new low in coronavirus hospitalizations, as the number went down by 28 to 490. That's the first time that the total has gone under 500, and it is at its lowest since March 16.
The number of intensive care patients due to Covid-19 was 119, the lowest since March 15. There were three coronavirus deaths statewide, none from New York City. The state said the deaths were from Niagara, Clinton and Rockland counties.
