Onondaga County officials reported Saturday that a woman in her 70s with underlying medical conditions has died from COVID-19. The woman had been hospitalized. This is the eighth death in the county in the last 10 days.
The county reported that there were 481 positive cases of COVID-19 in the county as of Saturday. 47 people are hospitalized, 23 in critical condition. The deaths continue to rise even as the rate of infections has started to level off. This is due to the number of infections a week or two ago. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has often said during his briefings that the longer people spend on a ventilator, have a smaller chance of recovery.
"We're going to have more deaths, because some of these people are in bad, bad shape," County Executive Ryan McMahon said Saturday.
McMahon again asked people to stay home on Easter Sunday, and not risk spreading the disease to family members. He said social distancing scores have been improving, but he needs people to remain indoors and follow the county's voluntary shelter in place order, which asks residents to alternate days they go out for essential items based on their birth year. He said based on testing data, they should have a good idea how well the plan worked in another week.
"In seven days, I think we'll know how successful we've been with this," he said. But he cautioned that this is considered a "new normal" when it comes to getting businesses open again.
"We're going to work with our infectious disease specialists. We can't have public health victories and then rush to a restart, then have another public health crisis."
After Gov. Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio had a public disagreement on the closure of New York City schools, McMahon said he "has no opinion" on when schools should reopen, and that he and Cuomo will have a conversation when the time comes.
"The governor's executive order trumps my ability to open schools. We were right on the money when we shut them down. We want to be right on the money when we open them back up."
