Local elected officials say they hope Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's decision to impose further pandemic-related restrictions in Erie and Niagara counties serves as a wake-up call, especially with the holiday season and winter months looming.
Given the rising number of Covid-19 cases, the town and county leaders said they understand Cuomo's decision to place much of Erie County in an "orange zone," and its rural parts – as well as a small section of Niagara County – in a less-restrictive "yellow zone."
"As dire as circumstances seem, the reality is we're going into the holiday season with an opportunity to improve, to get ourselves back out of this," Amherst Supervisor Brian J. Kulpa said Wednesday at the Amherst Police Emergency Operations Center in Eggertsville.
Kulpa was joined by Town of Tonawanda Supervisor Joseph Emminger and other local leaders, and they said residents need to heed the message to carefully follow public-health guidelines if they want to see the zone designations lifted as soon as possible. If they keep on the same track, the move to a "red zone" would be akin to the near-total springtime shutdown.
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The region regularly has outpaced other sections of the state at the rate at which Covid-19 tests come back positive for the disease.
The new yellow zone designation largely is a caution flag for those communities. But the orange zone order means indoor dining, gyms, salons, in-person schooling and other activities must shut down for now.
Emminger said no one should be surprised by the governor's move. Reducing the number of new cases requires changes to how people live their lives and how business is conducted, he said.
"We have some work to do. All of us have work to do. But the sky isn't falling," Emminger said.
Both said they would shift about 50% of the work force in their respective municipal buildings to working remotely. Recreational facilities – such as Tonawanda's Paddock Chevrolet Golf Dome – will shut down.
Emminger and Kulpa said they preferred to emphasize educational efforts over police enforcement of rules.
They said Halloween parties, Bills games and other gatherings are likely reasons the novel coronavirus is spreading, and it's only going to get more difficult as the holiday shopping season, Thanksgiving, Christmas and colder weather all encourage people to spend time indoors in groups.
"It'll be harder during the winter," said Kulpa, who recognized the economic effect of the orange zone order and urged people to shop at and order takeout from locally owned businesses.
Under New York state's new "microcluster strategy," orange zone hot spots would have to adhere to the following restrictions.
County Executive Mark Poloncarz said he spoke Wednesday morning with the governor and key members of his staff, and everyone agreed it was better to have a larger chunk of Erie County moved into the orange zone than to have only certain smaller communities with high infection rates move, potentially, into a red zone.
To have only small, defined areas move to red would have been confusing and difficult to enforce, he said.
“And that’s after multiple calls I’ve had over the past few days with lots of folks literally texting back and forth with data points with the governor,” he said. “So it’s fair to say that this was not a decision that was made lightly.”
On the day he shut down schools and ordered new economic restrictions in Erie County, the governor had a message for Western New York: You weren’t paying enough attention to Covid-19.
Republican critics said the governor is using a heavy-handed approach to confronting the outbreak.
"Will the last person left in Erie County turn off the lights on the way out?" County Comptroller Stefan Mychajliw wrote on Twitter. "Poloncarz and Cuomo will kill whatever few businesses remain. They will destroy the private sector. Make all dependent on government. Dictating church attendance. Closing schools. More families hurt."
In Niagara County, North Tonawanda and a portion of Wheatfield were labeled a yellow zone. Rebecca J. Wydysh, chairwoman of the Niagara County Legislature, said she believes this area was coded yellow because of its proximity to the City of Tonawanda in Erie County.
"We have seen 103 of our residents die in Niagara County, and no one takes that lightly," Wydysh said. "We have had better numbers during the summer, and I do agree that people have relaxed a little, especially when it comes to gatherings in their home with friends and family."
News Staff Reporters Sandra Tan and Thomas J. Prohaska contributed to this report.
