Erie County’s number of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations have fallen so much that the county’s community risk level is low, according to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention.
Having a low risk level means that masks can be optional in public places for all residents, even those who are immunocompromised, the CDC said on its website.
Local health officials still recommend masks, especially for those who are unvaccinated, immunocompromised, or both.
“Masks are proven to reduce your risk,” said Howard Nadworny, M.D., a Saint Vincent Hospital infectious diseases specialist and Erie County Department of Health adviser. “I would still wear them in crowded places, especially indoors.”
More:Mask mandates continue at these Erie County locations despite reduced COVID-19 cases
The CDC’s COVID-19 community level map was first published Feb. 25. It uses a county’s rate of new cases like the CDC’s community transmission map does, but the new map also takes into account a county’s rate of new COVID-19 hospital admissions and percent of hospital beds occupied by COVID-19 patients.
Erie County was considered medium risk on the initial map, then upgraded to low risk with Friday’s update. The CDC still updates the community transmission map, which lowered the county’s level of transmission Friday from high to substantial.
The county’s number of new COVID-19 cases dropped for the seventh straight week as it emerges from the delta/omicron surge. There were 137 newly confirmed cases reported in the county from Feb. 25-March 3, a decline of 46.1% from the 254 cases reported the previous week, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health.
“Just keep in mind that at-home tests are now readily available and those results aren’t part of the county totals,” said Charlotte Berringer, R.N., director of community health services for the county Health Department. “We don’t know how many more people have COVID-19.”
COVID-19 hospitalizations also continued to decline in the county, though at a slower rate than cases. A daily average of 46.9 COVID-19 hospitalizations was reported last week by the state Health Department, compared to 50.6 the previous week.
The county’s 14-day moving average of COVID-19 hospitalizations was 48.7 on Friday, its lowest total since Sept. 13.
More:Erie County ends daily reporting of COVID-19 cases, deaths
“Our total number of inpatients with COVID-19 was 18 (on Tuesday), the first time it’s been below 20 in a very long time,” said Jim Donnelly, R.N., UPMC Hamot’s chief nursing and quality officer. “We have learned that COVID is highly unpredictable but we are seeing some patterns. One of those is that after a major surge, where so many people caught the omicron variant or got vaccinated, that it has run its course — for the moment.”
COVID-19 case rate also dropped for Erie County
Here is a look at the rest of the county’s COVID-19 measurements between Feb. 18-24 and Feb. 25-March 3 from the state Health Department:
- The rate of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents declined from 94.2 to 50.8.
- The COVID-19 test positivity rate dropped from 9% to 5.8%.
- The average daily number of COVID-19 patients requiring ventilators remained at 5.3.
- The percentage of emergency department visits due to COVID-19 symptoms decreased from 1.4% to 1.1%
Six deaths due to COVID-19 complications were reported in the county last week, bringing the total number during the pandemic to 772. Those most recently reported deaths occurred between Jan. 25 and Feb. 20.
Contact David Bruce at dbruce@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNBruce.
