© 2024 WRVO Public Media
NPR News for Central New York
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
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.

COVID-19 continues to surge in Onondaga County, mainly inside people’s homes

WRVO Public Media
Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon.

The coronavirus surge just keeps getting worse in central New York. The numbers of cases and deaths from COVID-19 remain at high levels. In Onondaga County alone, there have been more than 400 new cases a day and more than a dozen deaths.

Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon knew it would be a bad weekend. The wastewater numbers told him so. The county has been monitoring rates of the coronavirus in sewer water since summer.  There was a spike shortly after Halloween. And then a really big one December 8.

"Whether this is a two or three-day event, and then it’s a reflection on two or three weeks ago, what has happened since then to starve the virus, we’ll see,” McMahon said. “But we are going to have a rough couple of days here.”

The virus is surging right now in places it wasn't earlier in the pandemic, for example, bars and restaurants. Government was able to regulate that to a certain extent. But now the spread is happening inside people’s homes. McMahon said state figures that show three-quarters of spread at small gatherings or inside homes, jives with what county contact tracers are seeing.

"We can’t regulate your activity inside your home,” McMahon said. “So, we need your help.”

What does that mean? Not allowing what McMahon calls “bad ideas.”

"Parents, bad ideas are letting your high school juniors or seniors have parties or have them see friends home from college,” McMahon said. “Those are bad ideas. I know you may not be able to stop them.  But we now know there are parties that have driven very many cases. Having people over to watch football or other events, not great ideas.”

Counties across central New York continue massive testing, and contact tracing. That becomes a more difficult issue as numbers increase. It’s a time intensive activity, and its usefulness comes from doing it quickly, so contacts can quarantine and starve the virus. Vaccines could arrive in central New York this week with first responders, health care providers and nursing home residents among the first to get the shots. That’s hopeful news. But as counties struggle to meet the demands of a pandemic, McMahon said one of the big frustrations is the lack of support from the federal government.

“I’m lost for words as to why there are still senators who don’t see testing, tracing, vaccine distribution as critical to an economic recovery for the country,” McMahon said. “It’s getting to the point of being maddening. This is costing a lot of money. And if we don’t do this? Throw up our hands in the air, if every county in the country did? Then this virus doesn’t go away. Even if you have a vaccine.”

Ellen produces news reports and features related to events that occur in the greater Syracuse area and throughout Onondaga County. Her reports are heard regularly in regional updates in Morning Edition and All Things Considered.