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Onondaga County Sees Slight Decline In COVID-19 Cases After Last Week's Spike

Onondaga County Executive's Office
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Youtube

Businesses behaved for the large part over Halloween weekend in Central New York. Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon reported that just one of 50 businesses were found non-compliant with covid-19 precautions. Health department data had shown behavior at bars and restaurants were partially responsible for last week sharp rise in coronavirus cases. McMahon said though cases are heading in the right direction, he doesn’t expect daily caseloads to drop much below 30 during the winter months.

“I don’t think we’re going to get back to the 10 to 30 cases a day range in the winter time. If we do, that’d be great," said McMahon. "But the 30 to 50 cases a day, that’s the range we need to be in where we can quickly do our job. Knowing that we’re isolating quickly to keep our infection rate low and our positive rate low.”

The county reported 61 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday. McMahon said the bare bones county staff has been trying its best to keep up with the higher case load.

County government has cut part time hours, offered early retirement incentives, and issued furloughs to counteract the financial effects of the pandemic. McMahon is due to present his 2021 budget Wednesday. He said in addition to the effects of covid-19 on local sales tax, the county will also have to account for cuts from the state

“We will meet the moment and have a balanced budget and our workforce will do more than they’ve ever had to do like they are now. But it’s not the type of budget that we want to put forward. Let’s put it that way,” said McMahon.

The budget will be presented in county legislature chambers at 11 a-m on Wednesday. A vote on the budget will be held after about a month of review, on December 3rd.

Katie Zilcosky is WAER’s All Things Considered host and features reporter. She also co-hosts WAER’s public affairs show Syracuse Speaks. As a reporter, she focuses on technology, economy, and identity.