Central New York continues its march towards Phase Two of reopening after the pandemic shutdown the local economy. Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon reported the region is still meeting state mandates and is anticipating more guidance for businesses by mid-week.
McMahon said the county will increase its contact tracing efforts, which up to this point has been handled mostly by health department employees.
“We’re going to give more of our Johns Hopkins Contact Tracing graduates an opportunity to get engaged moving forward, anticipating we might see upticks of community spread cases in Phase Two,” said McMahon.
Phase Two will reopen real estate and back offices in addition to an expansion of retail services. McMahon said a lot more people will be walking around which may lead to increased economic activity. While there has been good progress throughout Phase One, the area is still dealing with the issue of discharging nursing home residents from the hospital.
An Executive Order from Governor Andrew Cuomo requires nursing home residents with the coronavirus to stay in the hospital until they test negative for the virus, which can take weeks. McMahon said of the 85 people in the hospital for COVID-19, 41 of them don’t need to be there. Central New York leaders spoke with the Governor on Saturday, and McMahon said Cuomo was understanding.
“He’s asked us for our help, being the regional leader in Central New York, the largest county, to try to get these folks out of the hospital,” said McMahon. “Get them into an area where they can still get excellent care while they wait to test negative, to get them back into their home”
McMahon said they are working with community stakeholders to find a solution, which could mean converting an existing nursing home into a COVID-19 facility or creating a transitional wing within the hospital.
