BUFFALO, N.Y. — When does the COVID-19 pandemic hit its peak here in Western New York Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz says the peak will be weeks from now, maybe longer.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo says the coronavirus peak in downstate New York may come soon, even this week, as hospitalizations and deaths from the coronavirus have begun to slow in the New York City area.
But during his daily COVID-19 briefing on Tuesday, Poloncarz talked about computer modeling he had seen. The county executive's staff tells 2 On Your Side the projections were done by an analytical firm looking into not just the county's needs, but also people across Western New York who may depend on Buffalo area hospitals for emergency care.
Those projections put the peak here as weeks away... and longer.
“In the worst case scenario, we get our peak at the end of this month, but we have over 10,000 hospitalizations," Poloncarz said. In a best case scenario, our peak will not come until sometime in mid-May. We still will have thousands of hospitalization potentially above what we can handle."
The sobering outlook, says Poloncarz, reinforces the seriousness of the coronavirus fight. If people maximize social distancing and reduce trips away from home, lives can be saved.
