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COVID-19 Coverage

Positivity Rate In Region Remains Highest In State

Once again, Western New York has the highest rate of positive tests for COVID-19 in New York state. According to numbers released Saturday, our region's seven day rate is 9.05%. Other region's facing challenges numbers include Long Island at 8.73%; the Finger Lakes at 8.26%; and Central New York and the Mohawk Valley at 8.2%. In terms of hospitalizations, there are 497 beds occupied in Western New York through Thursday and 99 in intensive care units. Those numbers are down from 514 and 101 on Wednesday. "This is not like the beginning of the pandemic. We are prepared for the winter ...

COVID Uptick Adds To Hospital Turbulence

Christine Schuyler, Chautauqua County public health director, has been front and center since the pandemic began in March 2020. In her most recent message that comes 10 days before Christmas and is posted to the COVID-19 dashboard, she is brief and to the point. “This holiday season, please ...

CDC Endorses Schools’ Coronavirus ‘Test-To-Stay’ Policies

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. health officials are endorsing "test-to-stay" policies that allow close contacts of students infected with the coronavirus to remain in classrooms if they test negative. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention decided to more firmly embrace the approach, already ...

New York State Tallies Record Number Of COVID-19 Infections

NEW YORK (AP) — New York state reported Friday that just over 21,000 people had tested positive for COVID-19 the previous day, the highest single-day total for new cases since testing for the virus became widely available. One day snapshots of virus statistics can be an unreliable way to measure trends, but the new record punctuated a steady increase that started in the western part of the state in late October, and has taken off in New York City in the past week. Just under half of the positive results were in the city, where lines were growing at testing stations and some Broadway ...

Use Of Relief Funds Discussed By Council

It has been more than 200 days since the city of Jamestown received a portion of its allocated American Rescue Plan Act recovery funds. To date, the city has spent none of it. The topic of the funding — part of a $1.9 trillion plan by the federal government to provide direct relief to municipalities dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic — was discussed at length this week during a work session meeting of the Jamestown City Council. The city has been slated to receive $28 million in funding, of which half was disbursed in May 2021 and the rest to be disbursed in 2022. Funding must ...

Projects Prioritized By City Officials

Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist discussed the priority capital projects list that had been provided to council members. It is hoped that the projects would be funded through the American Rescue Plan Act money the city received in May as well as through the next disbursement of those funds. Sundquist said department heads went back through the projects and prioritized them. “There is a huge need that we try to get this resolved by the end of the year so that we can move into next year with capital projects,” Sundquist said during a work session meeting this week. “We did have each ...