BUFFALO, N.Y. — Elected leaders in areas throughout New York State are continuing in their efforts to try and meet the benchmarks set forth by Governor Andrew Cuomo, for him to even considering lifting his coronavirus related shutdown orders which have resulted in closed businesses, millions of workers unemployed, and impacted the lives of all New Yorkers.
Regions that can meet the criteria set forth by the Governor may be able to reopen more sectors of their economies as early as May 15.
Trying to meet the benchmarks
So far, Erie County is only meeting three of the seven metrics.
One area where it has lagged behind is testing for COVID-19.
In order to meet one of the state benchmarks for reopening, a county must test 3 percent of its population for COVID-19, per month.
For Erie County that would 27,540 tests monthly.
“We believe we are about 300 tests a day short of where we need to be," said County Executive Mark Poloncarz,
However, Poloncarz claims the county is closing the gap quickly.
In the early stages of the pandemic, the problem was a lack of available test kits. According to Poloncarz, that part of the picture has improved greatly
“Because there's so many entities doing testing now, we think we can meet that goal,” he said. “But you have to have the people to be tested.
Please come get a test
So now, much like he's been urging people to fill out census forms, Poloncarz is urging people to get tested just to get the numbers up, even if they have no reason to believe they've been exposed, or even if they have no symptoms.
Those criteria, which had earlier been required request a test, have now been waived.
“If we were to test solely symptomatic individuals, we'd probably never meet the governor's guideline,” Poloncarz said. “We need people to take those tests. So, right now if you call (716) 858-2929 you can qualify for testing even if you are asymptomatic … so anyone can do it.”
According to health experts, the overwhelming number of those who contract coronavirus will never become symptomatic and will recover without medical intervention.
However, Poloncarz also noted that if someone tests positive, they would be subject to a health commissioners order to quarantine for 14 days.
“We still want people to come and get tested…not to stop and say they’re not going to because they are afraid of (having to be) isolated,” he said.
What about antibody tests?
Meanwhile, we heard from many viewers more interested in getting an antibody test, which may indicate they have been exposed but have built up an immunity to the virus.
According to Poloncarz the county has ordered 100,000 of the tests.
But he notes antibody testing is not among the criteria being weighed by the Governor to allow a region to re-open.
“So, if hundreds of thousands of people got tested for antibodies it still wouldn’t matter because it is not part of the analysis from New York State,” he said.
Seeking Contact Tracers
Another area where Erie County needs to improve is in having enough so-called contact tracers.
These would be people whose charge would be finding out from those who test positive who else they may have been in contact with, and then informing those individuals that may have been exposed to an infected person.
The state will require that a county has 30 contact tracers for every 100,000 residents.
For Erie County that would require 270 contact tracers. It currently has 20.
And though Governor Cuomo has talked a lot about the state providing an army of contact tracers, Poloncarz says it is uncertain as to when they might be deployed.
“In talking to the Governor’s staff, they don’t know when they will be ready to do that but I'm not waiting,” said Poloncarz, who is considering taking current county employees who have been furloughed from their jobs, and put them back to work in this new role.
“So, we would not have to do any new hires…we may bring back some people who are currently at home and who are not working to increase out contact tracers,” he said.