Oneida County Starts May on A Better Note in COVID-19 Fight

Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente hopes to have more briefings like one he did on Friday. He announced 14 new positive COVID-19 tests, a reduction of six from the 20 had reported on Thursday. And, for the second day in a row, he had no new deaths to report.

More good news - the county had no new public exposure incidents to notify residents of.

For the first time since the pandemic began in March, Oneida County officials shed some light on the number of positive cases in prisons, nursing homes, hospitals, and group homes.

• (24%) State correctional and mental health facilities
• (15%) Nursing Homes
• (15%) Hospitals and clinics
• (7%) Group Homes
• (39%) Publicly contracted/community spread

The above graphic is now part of Oneida County's COVID-19 Dashboard which is updated daily.

Picente noted that case percentage listed under state correctional facilities included inmates and employees. Similarly, the percentages for nursing homes, group homes, and hospitals each reflected cases involving residents and workers, or patients and workers, at those facilities.

Regarding Governor Cuomo's announcement earlier Friday that schools would not be returning to the classroom this school year, Picente said it was 'disappointing' news for the students, especially high school seniors. However, in light of ongoing health crisis, Picente said he believed it was 'the right decision.'

He also reminded the public of a new executive order that took effect at noon Friday requiring people to wear masks in public places. Any business who allows the members of the public to enter their establishments without a mask could face a fine of upto $2,000.

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