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Erie County leaders raise concerns over COVID-19 cases in schools

'In September we only saw about 10 cases in schools, and since the beginning of October we've seen 215 cases in schools, so it's really escalated.'

ERIE COUNTY, N.Y. — Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz and Erie County Health Commissioner Dr. Gale Burstein raised concerns Wednesday about the situation with COVID-19 in Western New York. 

In Erie County alone, the number of positive cases reported for Tuesday was 167, for a daily percent positive rate of 5 percent. 

There are multiple sources of the spread, according to county leaders.

Dr. Burstein mentioned a concerning trend with schools.

"Just in October, we've had this explosion of the number of cases we've seen in schools," Dr. Burstein said.

She added, "In September we only saw about 10 cases in schools, and since the beginning of October we've seen 215 cases in schools, so it's really escalated, so schools are a place that we're looking at too." 

It's not just students either. 

Dr. Burstein said more than a third of the cases are among school staff.

"Superintendents share the concern that county executive and the county health commissioner expressed," said Michael Cornell, the Hamburg Central School District Superintendent and the president of the Erie-Niagara School Superintendents Association.

He added, "We, like they, want to do everything we can to keep kids safe and we've been doing everything we can to do that since we all opened school." 

Cornell also offered some perspective.

"Some quick math shows that the infection rate in schools is way lower than the infection rate in the community," he explained. 

Cornell added, "I think it's important for people to really understand that our schools are not sources of spread of COVID. What's happening when schools are reporting a case, is in almost every instance they're reporting a case that was contracted elsewhere."

Cornell believes across Western New York the majority of families, students and staff are taking all the COVID-19 precautions seriously.

The county health commissioner emphasized if people are concerned they may have been exposed and want to get tested, they can call the Erie County Health Department Hotline at 858-2929 to schedule.

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