CHENANGO COUNTY – As coronavirus cases rise throughout the United States, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo has reported an increase locally at a slower rate.
According to the New York State Coronavirus Tracker, as of Sunday, there have been 639 cases of COVID-19 in Chenango County.
On Sunday Governor Cuomo updated New Yorkers on the state’s progress.
“If you look at New York relative only to New York, you see the numbers going up, not as fast as in other states, but the numbers are going up,” said Cuomo. “It’s nice that we’re doing better in a national and global context, but it’s irrelevant to one extent because we have to deal with the issues that we have here in New York relative to New York.”
In the briefing Cuomo said he anticipates an increase in coronavirus cases as families head into the holiday season. He said future discussions with health officials will determine what New York State does next.
“I expect you’re going to see the rate going up through the holiday season,” he said. “This is a new phase for COVID, call it the winter phase or the holiday phase or the surge upon surge phase, and we are spending this weekend talking to health officials and local governments about the plan for that next phase.”
“In the meantime, everyone needs to stay vigilant: wear your mask, wash your hands, maintain social distance, and above all stay New York Tough.”
The Governor noted that the positive testing rate in all focus areas under the state’s Micro-Cluster strategy is 5.83 percent, and outside the focus zone areas is 3.75 percent.
He said within the focus areas, 39,323 test results were reported on Saturday, yielding 2,294 positives. In the remainder of the state, not counting these focus areas, 117,997 test results were reported, yielding 4,429 positives.
When asked about the increase in coronavirus cases in a past interview, Chenango County Health Department Director of Environmental Health and Code Enforcement Divisions Isaiah Sutton said it’s not too late to turn the trend of increasing cases around.
“The recent uptick in the number of coronavirus cases is a reflection of reduced social distancing and individuals taking trips to areas with larger numbers,” said Sutton. “We still have an opportunity to turn this trend around, but it will take all of us following best practices to protect those around us.”