Syracuse, NY – Seven weeks ago, when nearly 9% of all Covid-19 tests in Onondaga County returned positive, provincial executive Ryan McMahon was hoping to lower the rate to 5%. It seemed like a reasonable goal for the winter months.
Instead, the positive test rate gradually declined much further and today, as averaged over the past week, reached 1.1%. This is the lowest since shortly before Halloween, a major victory in the fight against the coronavirus.
“I’m surprised by the magnitude of the decline, McMahon said today. “I would have taken 5% through the winter to be honest with you.”
The province’s positivity rate is less than one third of the average countrywide rate of 3.5%.
The number of residents of the country with active cases of Covid-19 dropped to 667 today, nine times lower than the record recorded at 6,027 active cases on 3 January.
The province has confirmed 60 new cases since Sunday, McMahon said. There were 79 Covid-19 patients in local hospitals today, including 11 in intensive care.
There were no new deaths to report today, McMahon said.
All in all, the province has made a ‘reasonable turnaround’ from the deadly boom that began after Halloween and continued until the end of January, McMahon said.
In part, the progress is due to vaccinations, McMahon said. About 79,000 provincial residents received at least one dose of vaccine, or 17% of the population. In addition, more than 31,000 provincial residents have had Covid-19 since March and probably some immunity, McMahon said.
But McMahon said changes in behavior also played a role. The holiday boom has led to hundreds of serious illnesses and deaths, which have likely affected attitudes towards testing, mask wear and other public health measures.
“It was a terrible time for our community,” McMahon said. ‘Unfortunately, most people at this point know someone who died of Covid. I think it has also changed the behavior of people. Since then, we have been doing what we as a community need to do. ‘
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