WITH 496 NEW COVID-19 CASES IN PAST SEVEN DAYS, ERIE COUNTY IS EXPERIENCING “SUBSTANTIAL” TRANSMISSION

Starting Saturday, July 31, anyone entering an Erie County building or facility must wear a face mask

ERIE COUNTY, NY – The Erie County Department of Health (ECDOH) has confirmed 99 new COVID-19 cases for July 29, 2021, resulting in 496 new COVID-19 cases within the past seven days. Based on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicators for community transmission, Erie County is now considered to have substantial COVID-19 transmission, with a case rate of 54 new cases per 100,000 people in the past seven days.

In line with CDC recommendations for areas experiencing substantial COVID-19 transmission, starting Saturday, July 31, anyone who enters an Erie County building or facility must wear a face mask. This applies to all employees, vendors and visitors, regardless of vaccination status. Employees who enter other non-County owned buildings while on-the-job must wear a mask in those facilities as well. ECDOH and the CDC each highly recommend all owners of private establishments open to the public require mask wearing for all employees, guests, and patrons.

“Even with significantly fewer diagnostic tests being done, we have seen a sharp increase in new daily case totals,” said Commissioner of Health Dr. Gale Burstein. “Regardless of vaccination status, wearing a mask is one way to reduce the risk of disease transmission. We continue to recommend that people stay home when sick and get a diagnostic test if you experience symptoms or are a close contact of case.” 

“There are people in our county who are highly vulnerable to serious illness or death from a Delta Variant COVID-19 infection, especially unvaccinated people, children who are too young to be eligible for vaccine, and immunocompromised individuals,” said County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz. “The preventive and protective measures – including vaccination –  we take now will have a direct impact on the trends we see in new cases over the next few weeks. There is no better time to get vaccinated, as the available vaccines are safe and effective at preventing serious illness and death. Please do the right thing for your family, our community and our country: get vaccinated.” 

A schedule of ECDOH COVID-19 vaccine sites is listed at www.erie.gov/vax. ECDOH will also vaccinate Erie County residents at their home; call (716) 858-2929 to schedule. Free diagnostic COVID-19 tests are offered through ECDOH; call (716) 858-2929 to schedule. 

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• Erie County Department of Health (ECDOH), Information Line: (716) 858-2929
• ECDOH, COVID-19 information: www.erie.gov/covid19
• ECDOH, COVID-19 map: www.erie.gov/covidmap

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