It was a good day for recoveries from the coronavirus, said Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon on Friday. Thirty-one people recovered since Thursday, bringing the total to 310. That’s more than the number of active cases in the county at 271, down 12 from Thursday. That’s a good trend. But there were 19 more positive cases of COVID-19, bringing that total up to 598.
McMahon said the county now has the testing capacity to be more proactive. Testing has opened up at a Walmart site in East Syracuse, where testing nursing home workers is a priority.
Next week, the county will conduct new testing for seniors at assisted living, independent living facilities, and senior apartments, as well as those workers. The triage testing site at the Syracuse Community Health Center will help, as will Nascentia Health.
“By doing this, we’re going to save lives,” McMahon said. “When we have resources we will do more with testing. Right now, we don’t have hundreds of thousands or tens of thousands of tests. But we have the resources to go and do this in populations where we see this virus really preying on our seniors.”
McMahon said he believes the central New York region should have its own restart plan, separate from a statewide plan, based on health data. He said a restart plan is going to be developed in conjunction with leaders from neighboring counties, as well as in coordination with health commissioners, hospitals, emergency management, economic development, and potentially schools.
If the data merits central New York is different than the state, McMahon said they will go to the governor with a plan to show why the region should be treated differently and restart sooner. There is no plan yet, but McMahon said it’s coming.
Unfortunately, McMahon said the health data on Friday does not merit a restart, yet. A successful phase one would mean health departments could respond to COVID-19 cases in real time, with rapid testing, quick investigations and quick quarantines. McMahon said he and the other county and city leaders in the region will develop a document soon. The governor will ultimately have the final decision on whether there is a regional restart.
