BUFFALO, N.Y. — Governor Andrew Cuomo on Thursday said 500,000 people in New York State have been tested in the past month for coronavirus.
"We've done 500,000 tests in 30 days. That's more than Florida, California, and Michigan combined,” Cuomo said.
2 On Your Side wanted to break down the numbers even more to see how Erie County is doing. In Erie County, as of Thursday afternoon, 7,672 people have been tested. That's 0.84-percent of the population (2019 population: 918,702).
In nearby Monroe County, which doesn't have as many people, 7,644 people have been tested as of Wednesday night. That’s 1 percent of the population (2019 population: 741,770).
A spokesperson for the Erie County Department of Health told 2 On Your Side its public health lab's capacity for testing is about 80 to 100 tests a day.
The new Quest COVID-19 testing site in Cheektowaga has the ability to test 250 people a day starting Friday. As of Thursday, that capacity was 150 people for its Walmart testing sites in Rochester and Syracuse.
Kaleida says it's averaging testing about two-hundred people a day and has a capacity of more than three hundred. Essential workers will be added to the list of people Kaleida is testing on Friday.
Right now, Kaleida is testing any health care workers who want to be tested along with first responders, and dialysis patients.
Roswell Park is doing in-house COVID-19 testing patients and staff. The lab there is processing 30 to 60 tests a day. Roswell anticipates doing 80 tests per day by next week.
Remember, if you want to get tested at the Walmart in Cheektowaga, you need to make an appointment online first.
