BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Western New York region has taken a step back in its effort to reopen.
The state released new information on their Regional Monitoring Dashboard about where each region stands.
On Wednesday, May 13, the WNY region had met five out of seven benchmarks towards reopening.
However, on Thursday, May 14, the WNY region no longer meets the criteria for new hospitalizations. The number has to be under 2 per 100,000 residents (3-day average). WNY is currently at 2.17, up from 1.45 on Wednesday.
There are seven total benchmarks that need to be met before a region in New York State can even consider reopening.
The Western New York region included Erie, Niagara Chautauqua, Cattaraugus and Allegany counties.
WNY has also not met the 14-day decline in net hospitalizations (the Western region currently stands at 0), or having less than 15 new hospitalizations on average over three days, and right now our average is 28, as of May 13.
The other metric WNY is not meeting is a 14-day decline in hospital deaths (we've only four days right now), or fewer than five hospital deaths on average over three days, and right now we average nine deaths per day.
RELATED: How many workers are left after Newfane Rehab sees 15 sidelined for testing positive with COVID-19?
RELATED: COVID-19 testing sites in WNY