Onondaga County is taking more proactive measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 by tesing residents in assisted and independent living facilities. In his Saturday update, county executive Ryan McMahon said all new cases now are from community spread, so it makes sense to find out who might have the virus and isolate them.
"These are examples of when we have resources how we will do proactive testing in communities that we know will get hard by the virus and where we know there's the potential for outbreak due to density. Looking at testing triage site [Syracuse Community Health Center] where people in independent living facilities or homes can go. We're working with Nascentia Healthcare to go to assisted living facilities and senior apartments."
McMahon says they're working with the state to get approval test nursing home residents. The county is now testing nursing home personnel in the East Syracuse Walmart parking lot.
One more person died from the disease since Friday, for a total of 18. There are 276 active cases, down slightly. Forty-three are hospitalized, and half are critical, which McMahon means they need help breathing. Nearly 1,100 county residents are in mandatory isolation.
Meanwhile, he says the region's counties are beginning to plan a restart of the economy when curves flatten. McMahon says they want to be ready when it looks like it's safe to do so.
"It's our job to plan for restart, just like it was to plan and prepare for COVID-19. We know part of the process is putting together a plan, and working with our CNY health departments to figure out when you implement that plan. That happens in two ways: When health departmetns feel they can fight the virus in real time. And, if this plan were to be implemented before the state was ready, then the governor needs to sign off on that. We'll be working on a plan, and talk to our state partners. When the public health data merits the plan going into implementation, we'll reach out to the governor, find out if he feels comfortable, the governor then has the authority on that."
It's clear Onondaga County and parts of upstate less affected by COVID-19 might be able to restart their economies sooner than downstate. For those who've lost their jobs or have been laid off, McMahon says there are several companies looking to hire. The county has posted available positions at ongoved.com.
