BUFFALO, N.Y. — There's a lot of talk of whether Western New York is seeing a leveling off of coronavirus cases.
Governor Andrew Cuomo, during a visit to Buffalo this week, said Western New York is on the plateau in terms of hospitalizations.
On Tuesday, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz reacted to that claim, saying hospitalizations have stabilized. Poloncarz said during a virtual news conference that hospitalizations have "flattened" because social distancing is working.
Cuomo, during a visit to Roswell Park, says he believes Western New York is on the plateau.
According to the state, hospitalizations due to coronavirus in Erie County, over the past two weeks, have been hovering in the mid to low 200s, suggesting a plateau.
But testing is a different story.
Testing has been up and down, and there's no real consistency in terms of confirmed cases.
"It does not mean that we have peaked. We may be upwards on the trend line but flattening. We may be flattened to the point where we're sort of hitting a peak. But we don't know how long the peak will last," Poloncarz said.
2 On your Side wanted to ask Erie County Health Commissioner Dr. Gale Burstein about her thoughts on whether Western New York has hit its plateau, but we were told she was not available and we've put in a request to speak with her this week.
Niagara County's public health director, Dan Stapleton, issued a statement saying, "I feel there is inadequate data, especially in terms of testing, to comment on this."
2 On Your Side has reached out to several local hospitals, including Erie County Medical Center, Kaleida Health and Catholic Health, to see if they think we've hit the plateau, but so far we have not heard back.
There are also questions about whether Western New York could still see a surge in cases.
Poloncarz says that surge has always been expected in mid-May, and that if Erie County reopens too early, then a surge in cases would be expected.