Broome County has started to see a decline in COVID-19 cases over the past couple of weeks.
Meanwhile, the federal government has released more details on the vaccine mandate for businesses with more then 100 employees.
It requires workers to either be vaccinated or undergo weekly testing come Jan. 4.
Broome County officals hope to ramp up their test capacity as more people are going to need to be tested because of the new mandate.
There’s been a 13% decrease in new cases in the last seven days compared to the week before, but Broome County’s positivity rate continues stay around 5% in the last seven days
About 20% of new cases over the past week are in children under 17 and 50% of new cases are people under the age of 40.
“So we continue to see the majority of new cases in younger people. We are awaiting the final authorization from New York State Department of Health for the COVID vaccine for children ages 5-11,” Broome County Executive Jason Garnar said. “Our heath department is ready and waiting to assist with vaccinations for these children as soon as the go ahead is given. We’re hopefull that as this population begins to get vaccinated, we can further move the needle on ending the pandemic here in Broome County.”
Broome County reported 97 new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, with 652 active cases.
There are 64 Broome County residents hospitalized, with one new death, a women in her 80s.
Health experts implore that with cold weather approaching to please use your best judgment when staying indoors.
