Upstate University Hospital now has the ability to rapid test their employees and patients for COVID-19 in their labs. County Executive Ryan McMahon said at his Friday briefing that this testing service is not open to the public, but it’s an effective tool that helps the community overall.
“There are capacity constraints, but for them to be able to use their lab and turn around information in a day gives us probably another 24, 36 hours to do our investigation,” said McMahon.
Demand for testing in Onondaga County decreased in the past 24 hours. McMahon reported that there are currently only 300 outstanding tests, which is far fewer than what they've had in the past. But with the holiday weekend approaching, he cautions the community not to relax their social distancing.
“We fear that some of the progress in this data that we are talking about today can go the other way because of an afternoon around the dinner table when these things could be avoided,” said McMahon.
McMahon urges the community to use common sense so normal activity can resume.
There were 14 new cases of COVID-19 reported Friday, for a positive case total of 456. Another Onondaga County resident died of the virus. The eighth victim was a man in his 60s with underlying health conditions.
