The Southwestern Central School District decided to “Light the Night” at its athletic complex Friday afternoon. The lighting is meant to honor the senior Class of 2020. Photos by Joe Gustafson

While some are closer than others, no region in New York state currently meets the criteria necessary to reopen, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday during his daily briefing on the coronavirus.

The governor said “core factors,” including hospitalization rates, total number of beds available and number of contact tracers, will determine when a region can begin to reopen certain sectors of its economy. Many of the NY on PAUSE restrictions for essential businesses are set to expire May 15, though Cuomo has made it clear that those restrictions are likely to be extended for some parts of the state where the coronavirus is more widespread.

“Let’s do this intelligently, based on metrics, and we’ll see what happens and we’ll adjust to whatever happens,” Cuomo said.

Of the seven criteria that regions will need to meet before reopening, the Western New York region, which includes Chautauqua and Cattaraugus counties, currently meets three: a 14-day decline in hospital deaths or fewer than five deaths in a three-day average; share of total hospital bed available above 30%; and share of ICU beds available above 30%.

Another metric that will be required is that regions must have fewer than two new COVID-19 patients admitted per 100,000 residents per day. “It’s based on your population to account for the variants in the different sizes of regions across the state,” Cuomo said.

Chautauqua, Cattaraugus and Allegany counties are part of the Western New York region that also includes Erie and Niagara counties, where COVID-19 cases are much higher. The state is broken down into regions so resources, including beds and equipment, can be shared between facilities.

Locally, the numbers remain low. The Chautauqua County Department of Health and Human Services reported no new confirmed cases of the virus Monday afternoon, leaving the total at 37. There remains four active cases, 29 people who have fully recovered, four deaths attributed to the virus and 75 county residents either in quarantine or isolation.

And of the tests administered to date, 988 have come back negative.

In Cattaraugus County, 41 cases have been documented in addition to 13 active cases, 78 people in mandatory quarantine, 28 recoveries, two deaths and 987 negative tests.

To the north in Erie County, 3,749 cases of the virus have been reported in addition to 283 deaths. The bulk of confirmed cases are in the Buffalo metropolitan area.

State Sen. George Borrello, R-Sunset Bay, and state Assemblyman Andrew Goodell, R-Jamestown, have called for a regionalized reopening approach as unemployment rates have shot up across New York. The legislators said certain hot spots, such as Erie County, should be excluded when calculating which regions should be allowed to open.

“It’s unfortunate Chautauqua County is lumped in with the city of Buffalo when we could safely reopen local businesses that are staffed by local employees that serve local residents,” Goodell told The Post-Journal. “It’s extremely painful to see our local, small businesses dying on the vine while Walmart and other out-of-town big box stores thrive.”

Goodell pointed out that several essential businesses have been operating successfully without creating a spike in reported cases.

“I have great confidence in the ability of our local businesses and employees to be able to operate safely consistent with CDC and OSHA guidelines,” he said.

The first phase of reopening, once all criteria are met, will include construction, manufacturing and some retail where curbside pickup is available.

ON THE DECLINE

The number of people dying from the coronavirus in the state dipped again, to 226 fatalities Sunday, Cuomo said during his briefing. That’s the fewest number of deaths in a day since March 28, when 237 people died.

The governor said some parts of the state could start to reopen as early as May 15 if local governments provide plans for testing for the coronavirus and tracing the contacts of those who have been infected, and if data provided by hospitals and health officials shows the regions are not at high risk of a new COVID-19 surge.

The five regions of the state that are getting closer to becoming eligible to open under the criteria are central New York, the Finger Lakes, the Mohawk Valley, the North Country and the Southern Tier.

LIGHT THE NIGHT

Southwestern Central School took part in a “Light the Night” event Friday evening at its athletic complex. Maureen Donahue, Southwestern Central School superintendent, said the lights were turned on at 8:20 p.m. (20:20 in military time) for 20 minutes.

The gesture was a nod to the Class of 2020, Donahue said, noting that seniors are missing out on a variety of year-end events including prom due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“We just thought this would be something positive for the kids,” Donahue said. “They’ve lost so much these past few months and so much is in limbo, so this was just something to show them they are appreciated.”

Donahue said similar “Light the Night” events may take place leading up to graduation.