Rapid testing Saturday by New York State at eight sites in Western New York found a Covid-19 infection rate of 3.4%, which Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo called a “very high number.”
Cuomo said Sunday that the state continues to a have a “caution flag up on Western New York” and is sorting through contract tracing data from the rapid tests to determine why the region was seeing infection rates higher than the rest of the state over the past 10 days.
The state tested 1,024 people Saturday at three Buffalo sites and sites in Amherst, Dunkirk, West Seneca and Niagara Falls and the positive rate was 3.4%. The rate of positive rapid tests Saturday in the City of Buffalo was 5.5%, said Cuomo.
Overall, Western New York, which includes Erie, Niagara, Chautauqua, Cattaraugus and Allegany counties, had 1.6% of tests come back positive on Saturday, the highest rate in the state for the 10th straight day.
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The entire state was at .69%, and no other region in the state was above 1%, Cuomo said.
When asked whether an influx of college students returning to area campuses was contributing to higher infection rates in Western New York, Cuomo said state officials don’t have enough information to make such a link.
“I don’t know that we know that it’s anything other than just general compliance, so far,” he said. “The contact tracing is how you actually slow the spread. And then you may find patterns of where it’s coming from. But we don’t have the contact tracing data yet.”
Gareth Rhodes, deputy superintendent for the state Department of Financial Services and a member of the Covid-19 Response Task Force, said the rapid tests deliver a result within 15 minutes, allowing the state to find people who have been in recent contact with an infected person.
“We will quickly track the contact of these positives and these positive cases to figure out exactly where they’re coming from,” Rhodes said.
Saturday was the first day the state offered the rapid testing, which will continue at eight Western New York locations through Wednesday.
With the University at Buffalo beginning classes on Monday, and many institutions of higher education across the state already in session, Cuomo said that colleges and universities are “very much a canary in the coal mine” when it comes to predicting whether Covid-19 spread can be held in check.
“Colleges are having issues,” he said. “If the students act irresponsibly or the precautions are not in place, then the virus will spread, and then more dramatic action is going to have to be taken. If there is outbreak on a college campus, it’s a concern for the college, but it’s also a concern for that local community and for the state.”
SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras announced Sunday that in-person instruction at SUNY Oneonta is being suspended for two weeks, after 105 students tested positive for Covid-19 since Friday.
Malatras said the state also was sending a “swat team” to conduct rapid testing in the City of Oneonta for any resident who wants the test, which provides a result in 15 minutes.
The outbreak at the campus of about 6,000 students occurred after college officials received reports of several large student parties last week and 20 students with symptoms tested positive, said Malatras.
All students were then tested and 105 tests came back positive, he said.
Malatras said five students connected with hosting the parties, as well as three campus organizations, were suspended.
Read the full story from News Reporter Jay Tokasz.
