Picente Talks COVID-19 in Winter, Sales Tax and Holland Patent

Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente was on Keeler Friday talking about how well restaurants have done for the community during COVID-19, the coach in Holland Patent, following a community spread of the virus, who was unwilling to work with the county for contact tracing, and the enormous reduction in sales tax revenue.

Picente said local restaurants have been creative in coming up with ways to serve their customers, despite the COVID-19 guidelines. He did say that he's worried because as the weather gets colder, people will not be able to dine outside and that could result in a bump in cases.

He also spoke about the way the county is managing the virus with quicker test results and swift action to isolate the infected person and follow up with contact tracing. That process is keeping the numbers low here.

In regards to the Holland Patent outbreak which resulted in the school closing recently, Picente said that the school took swift action that prevented that situation from turning into a "super spreader" event. He did say that there were a few infected people that resisted sharing information for contact tracing, which made the process more difficult.

Listen to the complete interview here: