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Stay up to date with the latest news on the coronavirus and COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. We'll post regular updates from NPR and regional news from the WRVO newsroom. You can also find updates on our live blog.

McMahon: ‘Not realistic’ to enforce Cuomo’s mask order. Town of Elbridge still has no cases

Governor Andrew Cuomo's office
A reporter with a mask asks a question at Gov. Andrew Cuomo's press conference.

Onondaga County has another death from COVID-19, bringing its total to 12. The victim was a man in his 90s who had underlying medical conditions. On Wednesday, County Executive Ryan McMahon announced 26 more positive cases of the coronavirus, bringing the total to 563. Fifty-three people are in the hospital, 20 are in critical condition. 

McMahon said it will be hard to enforce an executive order Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued Wednesday, which will go into effect Friday, that requires all New Yorkers wear a mask in public, when it’s not possible to social distance.

“For us to realistically, be able to enforce every person in the public doing that, it’s just not realistic," McMahon said. "This is Good Samaritan. We’re all in this together. Let’s act like it.”

Onondaga County has been recommending people wear a mask out in public.

The Town of Elbridge is still the only municipality in the county, besides the Onondaga Nation, that has not had a positive case of coronavirus. Vern Richardson is the supervisor of the Town of Elbridge, which has a population just under 6,000.

“People are trying to adhere to what the governor says and our county executive says by social distancing themselves," Richardson said. "I know I’ve seen that in the stores and people that are walking on the sidewalks, they are distancing themselves, as well. So, I think that part has been working good for us out here.”

Richardson said Elbridge residents are pretty amazed their town has been able to escape the pandemic, so far, as it is all around them in neighboring towns. 

Tom Magnarelli is a reporter covering the central New York and Syracuse area. He joined WRVO as a freelance reporter in 2012 while a student at Syracuse University and was hired full time in 2015. He has reported extensively on politics, education, arts and culture and other issues around central New York.