ERIE COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH UPDATE, March 24, afternoon

ERIE COUNTY, NY – The Erie County Department of Health (ECDOH) is making these announcements:

• From our data reported as of 2 p.m. today: we have 114 positive COVID-19 cases in Erie County. Our Public Health Lab has 92 tests pending. Commercial and private labs are testing for COVID-19 and those results are available to ECDOH through the New York State Department of Health reporting system.
• As a reminder: Child care providers or parents who are essential workers are asked to fill out a survey from the Childcare Resource Network (CCRN) at www.wnychildren.org. CCRN is the clearinghouse for childcare openings and for requests for child care openings.
• The NY State of Health and New York State Department of Financial Services have announced a special enrollment period for uninsured New Yorkers. The enrollment period is open between March 16 and April 15, 2020. Get more info at nystateofhealth.ny.gov.
• The Erie County Department of Mental Health has noted that most in-person meetings for Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous have been suspended or cancelled. There are online resources for web-based meetings for each of these:
  • Alcoholics Anonymous: http://aa-intergroup.org/directory.php
  • Narcotics Anonymous: https://www.na.org/meetingsearch/
• We are sharing the contact information for Domestic Violenceresources.
  • The NYS Domestic Violence Hotline is 1-800-942-6906.
  • Haven House provides shelter, support and services for victims and survivors of domestic violence. Call (716) 884-6000; people who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can call 7-1-1. Haven House’s advocates are working remotely and are available with support and services for victims and survivors.
  • The Family Justice Center is closed to in-person visits, but they are still operating by phone, email and online chat. Call (716) 558-SAFE (7233).
• Our Information Line has seen a significant number of questions about unemployment resources. Erie County residents can call 2-1-1 for application assistance, or visit www.labor.ny.gov.
• The Erie County COVID-19 Information Hotline is getting questions from workers in Erie County asking for “return to work” note beyond their doctor’s note. ECDOH is not able to provide any documentation to people unless they also received a quarantine or isolation order from their department.
• This important reminder applies to everyone: the only thing that should be flushed down a toilet is toilet paper. The scarcity of toilet paper in some stores may have caused some households to use alternatives. Items like paper towels and baby wipes should never be flushed down toilets. They can cause massive problems for municipal sewer systems and can severely damage household pipes.