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McMahon: COVID-19 skews higher in CNY, state not counting negative school, college saliva tests

Ellen Abbott
/
WRVO News
Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon.

Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon wants New York State to start including negative results from the thousands of saliva-based coronavirus tests that have been administered in central New York in recent weeks. He said without that, the infection rate for COVID-19 skews higher.

For example, the current state reported seven-day rolling average for COVID in Onondaga County, using diagnostic and saliva tests, is .75%. Add in more than 19,000 saliva tests in schools and colleges over the last week, and that number drops to .28%. McMahon said he’s been in daily control room discussions with state officials about this.

“You can’t ignore all the negatives that testing reports," McMahon said. "I think it will just further show the great work New York State has done overall, and New York State’s rate will certainly drop.”

Despite stories about parties and college students gathering in large groups, McMahon said overall, he feels good about the college cases of COVID-19.

“We’ve been open for over a month,” McMahon said. “We have over 25,000 students and we’ve had 68 total college cases and well over 30,000 tests. Do the math, pretty good.”

McMahon said the county has been able to account for a recent spike in cases at Syracuse University that involved kids leaving town over Labor Day, and returning with the virus.

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.