PRESS RELEASE
March 20, 2020 @ 2:00 p.m.
Chairman of the Wyoming County Boardof Supervisors, Jerry L. Davis, reports: “As of 1:00 p.m. today, we still only have one case of COVID-19 confirmed, which was from the Northwest Quadrant. We have had tentests, which were negative for COVID-19.
There are twenty-eightresults pending over the coming days and more confirmed cases are expected. When an individual is tested, they are quarantined until test results are available. If the test is positive, health officials will notify close contacts to provide instructions, including monitoring for symptom development. As the incidence of COVID-19 increases in Wyoming County, residents who develop symptoms including a fever over 100.4, cough, and difficulty breathing should self-quarantine and care for themselves at home.
Call your healthcare provider for advice and avoid the Emergency Room unless it is a true medical emergency.Testing kits are in short supply and after repeated requests to the State of New York, we havebeen unable to secure additional test kits.
Personal protective equipment is another limited resource in short supplyand those requests have been pending for over a week.New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo,announced today employees of non-essential businesses are required to stay home in an effort to combat the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. Governor Cuomo also announced businesses that do not comply with the new mandate will be subject to civil fines and mandatory closures.
The manufacturing of food production and processing is still considered essential. This would also include businesses that support this vital role of food production. I still encourage you to please reduce your staff when able.The list of essential businesses or entities maybe found at: https://esd.ny.gov/guidance-executive-order-2026.
If your business qualifies,the following guidance is suggested: limit your hours, limit the amount of people in your business to ensure social distancing. I encourage you to reach out to Scott Gardner from the Wyoming County Chamber of Commerce. Scott will be working with the county EOC on short term and long term needs of our county businesses. Scott can be reached at 585-786-0307.
Remember that the constant flowof information may createanxiety. To keep your anxiety to a minimum,limit yourself to checking social media and/or trusted news outlets to once or twice per day. Eat healthy foods, drink plenty of water, and try to get a good amount of sleep. Spend time outside if you’re able. Virtually reach out to support networks, family, friends and your faith community.
Look for positive moments throughout your day. If you begin to feel overwhelmed, or find that you’re struggling to cope, know that you are not alone. Please call the WyomingCounty Crisis Line at 585-283-5200 for assistance and support.
The Director of Fire and Emergency Management,
Brian Meyers, has openedour county Emergency Operations Center (EOC) to coordinate the overall response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The EOC’S primary mission to support county operations and direct COVID-19 incident needs. Chief Executive Officer, Joseph McTernan,of the Wyoming County Community Health System has also opened the Hospital Command Center (HCC) to support impending surge capacity and day to day operations of the health system. They will work in conjunction with the county EOC to attempt to secure needed resources of first responders, public health and health system staff.As a reminder, we will not be releasing specific information regarding residency.
Our environment and population is different than Erie and Monroe Counties, for example the population in the Town of Cheektowaga is twice that of the entire County of Wyoming.
However, we want to be as transparent to our concerning public as we canwhile maintaining our legal and privacy obligations. For our purposes regarding residency, we will be breaking down the county townships and reporting in quadrants:
1.Northwest-Attica, Bennington, Orangeville, Sheldon
2.Southwest-Arcade, Eagle, Java, Wethersfield
3.Southeast-Castile, Gainesville, Genesee Falls, Pike
4.Northeast-Covington, Middlebury, Perry, Warsaw