BUFFALO, N.Y. — NYS Assemblymember Monica Wallace is calling on Governor Andrew Cuomo to lift Orange Zone restrictions in Erie County.
“Restaurateurs in Erie County’s Orange Zone are watching their businesses slowly go under as their customers enjoy indoor dining at establishments only a few miles down the road,” Wallace said.
"These inconsistencies in public health restrictions are incredibly frustrating and harmful to these small businesses, many of which will not survive much longer under these conditions. It’s time for Governor Cuomo to loosen the nearly two-month ban on indoor dining in our community.”
If the governor determines conditions are too unsafe to loosen Orange Zone restrictions, Wallace said she wants him to show information and data supporting that decision.
Wallace said she is further asking for an explanation as to why other areas of the state with higher hospitalization and positivity rates are in the Yellow Zone or no zone at all.
According to the NYS COVID Dashboard, there are no restrictions currently in the capital region, which has 529 people hospitalized compared to 518 in Western New York.
"Meanwhile we've seen from reporting that infection rates around the state including in Niagara County are higher than in Erie County and yet we remain in Orange and yet you can go drive to Niagara County and eat inside a restaurant there," Wallace said.
2 On Your Side reached out to the governor's office for a response to this, but we have not heard back at this time.
However, based on Erie County hospitalizations and positivity rate should Orange Zone restrictions be lifted?
UB's Chief of Infectious Disease Dr. Thomas Russo said he doesn't think restrictions should be lifted because we're worse than when they were put in place on November 20.
Back then, the rolling average percent positivity rate in Erie County was 5.8 percent, right now that number is 6.6 percent.
"We started to recover and post Thanksgiving but then the holiday bump caught up with us and we sort of lost ground over the last two weeks," Russo said. "The last three days have been a little bit better but the full impact of the holidays and Bills games is unclear. So I don't think we are quite ready to remove restrictions here in Erie County. We have a lot of community burden of disease and I think we need to do better before we get there."