Onondaga County has reported its first death due to the coronavirus. Health Commissioner Doctor Indu Gupta said the individual was an elderly, hospitalized patient and there was no risk of exposure to the public. This comes just eight days after the county had its first case. The number of people with the coronavirus in Onondaga County rose again to 60 on Tuesday. Eight people are in the hospital and three are in critical condition.
Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon said they’ve gotten the test results back on almost 1,400 out of around 2,200 tests. That still leaves about 800 tests without results yet. McMahon said testing is continuing to decline, which is a good sign.
"Our hope is that the demand for testing is less because the people who are sick, we're getting to them," McMahon said. “This helps us get Dr. Gupta’s team out and doing what they’re doing very well and that is getting people help who are sick, putting people in quarantine that have the potential to be sick and helping us bend the curve."
McMahon acknowledged that there have been some reports of people waiting a week for their results to come in. But he said the wait time now, for new test results, is 24 hours.
“We don’t control the demands of these labs," McMahon said. "The rules of the labs have changed. Their regulations are now a little bit more lenient so they can do different things in different ways now. That’s why you’re seeing the faster turn times.”
The county is asking for the public’s help in another investigation. Someone who attended the 11 a.m. service at the Bethany Baptist Church in Syracuse on Sunday, March 15, tested positive for the coronavirus. Anyone else who attended and has symptoms is being asked to put themselves in quarantine and contact their doctor.
