Officials in Wayne County declared a state of emergency Monday as a result of rising quantity of COVID-19 cases it was experiencing.
Wayne County Administrator Rick House mentioned that the declaration was made for the power to challenge particular orders expeditiously if essential.
These can embody directing hospitals to postpone elective surgical procedures.
“Wayne County has declared a ‘state of emergency” due to the high rate positivity rate,” House mentioned. “Wayne County continues to see COVID rates higher than the last 12 months. As of December 6, 2021, there were 768 active cases and 94 deaths. Currently, 51 cases are hospitalized.”
House mentioned the message to the general public remained the identical.
“We continue to encourage all residents to get vaccinated (boosters included), wear face masks while at indoor public venues, and constantly wash hands and use hand sanitizer,” House mentioned.
Wayne County has a masking mandate in place for all county staff and guests to county workplace buildings and amenities however mentioned there are not any plans for broader mandates.
“We will continue to monitor the situation closely and are working very closely with our public health officials,” House mentioned.
The county reported 102 new COVID-19 cases final Wednesday, the very best single-day complete because the begin of the pandemic. A day later, the county had 115 new cases.
Among highest charges in New York
The seven-day common positivity charge for COVID-19 assessments in Wayne County is presently 13.4%, one of the very best charges within the state, based on information from the New York Department of Health.
Wayne County has additionally seen comparatively fewer residents getting vaccinated than in surrounding counties. Just 64.7% of residents age 5 or extra in Wayne County have obtained at the very least one dose of the vaccine. That quantity is 74.7% in neighboring Monroe County, and 72.6% in Ontario County, based on the Finger Lakes Regional Vaccine Hub.
As of Saturday, Wayne County has reported 10,744 COVID-19 cases because the starting of the pandemic.
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In a Facebook put up Monday, officers at Wayne County Public Health mentioned that 27 residents had died from COVID-10 because the begin of November.
“Wayne County Deaths from COVID-19 spiked over the last month, with 27 deaths occurring between November 1st and today,” the Facebook put up mentioned. “This represents a 40.8% increase over that timespan, and the 27 deaths represent 28.7% of our total deaths from COVID-19 since ‘Day One.'”
Officials defined that the rise in COVID-19 cases has led to space hospitals being at, or close to, capability.
“Getting vaccinated could mean the difference between a bed for someone with a critical non-COVID health issue, and a bed for someone who could have been kept out of it,” the WCPH Facebook put up mentioned.
Contact workers reporter Sean Lahman at slahman@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @seanlahman.
This article initially appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Wayne County NY declares state of emergency as COVID cases spike
