From Staff Reports, 11/22/21
Citing increases in school infections, hospitalizations capacity, and deaths, Erie County Executive Marc Poloncarz announced today that he is re-instituting an indoor mask mandate countywide.
Poloncarz spoke of several forecasts that show a continued increase in infections rate will plague Erie County until at least mid-January. Without mitigation efforts, the county administrator announced that hospitals could be overwhelmed. Poloncarz and Erie county health department officials provided comparative data, showing that the Delta variant poses an increased danger this year. Current infection rates are above November 2020, despite vaccination efforts.
In light of travel and holiday gatherings, Erie County expects both the infection and death rates to exceed 2020.
Poloncarz announced a 4 phased approach, the progression of phases are dependent on the effectiveness of the prior phase. County leaders will assess the effectiveness of Phase 1 on December 13th, if not sooner, using key metrics, to decide if the next phase is necessary.
“Now trust me folks, we only want to do phase 1, nobody wants to go to phase 2,” pleaded Poloncarz
