BUFFALO, N.Y. — Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz provided an update to Erie County's COVID-19 progress on Thursday, November 19.
Poloncarz announced that Erie County hit a new high in COVID-19 cases for a single day in the county with 651 new cases reported for Wednesday, November 18.
In addition to cases rising, Poloncarz also says that hospitalizations are seeing a rapid increase.
"I am very worried about where we will be in the next few days," Poloncarz stated, adding that hospitalizations are close to what they were in April in Erie County. "There has been rapid increase in hospitalizations in the last few days."
When asked about the possibility of Erie County going to a 'Red Zone' soon, Poloncarz said the state will make that call on Wednesday, if they need to.
"What we are seeing is the state will be analyzing the data Monday and Tuesday and will make an announcement on Wednesday," he said. The state will be looking at if there are changes after a full week's worth of data under the new restrictions to make that decision.
"We're not happy with the positivity rate and hospitalizations going higher," he added. "If there are going to be changes to any zone, the Governor or state will make it on Wednesdays."
This comes following the Governor's announced that the entire Erie County, and parts of Niagara County, are now under zones - whether it be Orange or Yellow.
WATCH: Parts of Erie County now Orange or Yellow
