ERIE COUNTY, N.Y. — With more and more people taking at home COVID-19 tests, Erie County officials are asking those who test positive to report their test results to the county health department.
Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz posted the request Wednesday afternoon on Twitter, asking any county residents who test positive from an at-home test to report their test results online to the Erie County Department of Health.
In the tweet Poloncarz said in part, "It is important we have an accurate view of COVID in our region, and reporting these results helps us to do it."
Any county residents looking to report their results can do so by clicking the link here.
During a COVID-19 update Tuesday afternoon, Poloncarz said the omicron variant of COVID-19 has been detected in the county. Poloncarz says the new variant was first identified by the University at Buffalo's genetic sequencing program from local samples collected between Dec. 7 and Dec. 10.
"I want people to understand that the big spikes we're seeing are probably being driven by omicron," Poloncarz said.
Poloncarz says omicron is two to three times more transmissible than the delta variant and other earlier variants of COVID-19. According to Erie County Commissioner of Health Dr. Gale Burstein, the omicron variant is basically more transmissible than the measles and is currently the dominant strain of COVID-19 in Western New York.
With a recent increase in COVID-19 cases, the Erie County Department of Health says it's planning on distributing 400,000 KN95 masks to the public starting this week. The Erie County Department of Health will be giving out the masks at COVID-19 test sites and vaccine clinics.
In addition, the county's social services and senior services departments will be handing out masks along with the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library branches, municipal emergency managers, local nonprofit agencies, and houses of worship.