BUFFALO, N.Y. — One of the statistics New York State tracks is the 7-day rolling average of the percent positive rate for each of the counties. 2 On Your Side has been tracking the numbers for the last month, and the numbers are staggering.
The more rural counties of Western New York have seen the greatest increase, percentage wise, in COVID-19 cases, over the past month.
The data starts on November 16. On that day, the county with the highest average percent positive was Allegany County at 9 percent. Followed by Orleans (6.6 percent) , Wyoming (6.4 percent), Erie (5.9 percent), Niagara (4.2 percent), Cattaraugus (2.7 percent) and Chautauqua (1.6 percent.)
Jumping to December 16, the results are dramatically different. The numbers increased at a drastic rate compared to what they were last month, in some counties.
The percent positive average in Chautauqua County increased 447 percent in the last month, to 8.7 percent. Cattaraugus County also saw a 167 percent increase, to 7.2 percent.
Two counties saw an increase of nearly 100 percent. Niagara County increased by 98 percent to 8.2 percent and Genesee's rate saw a 90 percent jump to 9.7 percent.
Orleans had the highest rolling percent positive rate on December 16, to 10 percent, a 53 percent jump.
Wyoming and Allegany had the third and second lowest jumps. Wyoming's rate jumped 37 percent to 8.8 percent. Allegany grew at a rate of 4 percent, to 9.4 percent.
As for Erie County, there was a rise of 2 percent from a month ago, to 6 percent.
