Officials are carefully watching the numbers of local COVID-19 cases. Monday's death toll of 12 represented the highest one-day count of COVID-19 deaths in Erie County, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 1,661 and deaths to 73.
Concerned over a possible dramatic rise in infections, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz is moving forward on plans for converting the Convention Center into a hospital.
"We are waiting for the approval from New York State to commence that process. They've been provided all the information," Poloncarz said during his Monday briefing.
"They're watching the hospitalization rates like we are. They provide the reports to us. New York State Department of Health provides the reports to us on hospitalizations."
There has been a spike in cases at local nursing homes. Nearly half of the county's COVID-19 deaths have been residents of nursing homes.
"We assume that there can be two sources in nursing homes," said Erie County Health Commissioner Dr. Gale Burstein.
"One of health care workers that have COVID-19 and they don't have any symptoms. The second is if a person who's residing in the nursing home has had to go to the hospital and then they returned. They may have been infected with COVID-19."
Other social services costs are rising. Local homeless support groups made a decision to open a shelter for the homeless who weren't infected with the virus in ECC's Flickinger Center. The total of homeless men living there has continued to rise. Poloncarz says 30 more showed up after release from the Holding Center and state prisons. That brings the total above the original projected number of beds.
Some positive news was delivered from Albany in the form of much-needed supplies.
"We got hundreds of thousands of gowns, gloves, as well as goggles," said Poloncarz. The items were expected to be distributed to area hospitals Monday.
"We are expecting shipments of N95 [mask]s later this week that we've had on order from a couple sources."
