Gov. Kathy Hochul speaks at a news conference Monday.

Nearly all staffed acute care beds in Chautauqua County hospitals were occupied as of Sunday, according to information provided by hospitals to the state Health Department.

UPMC Chautauqua had all 82 of its staffed acute care beds occupied through Sunday, with 27 of those patients hospitalized with COVID-19. Brooks-TLC in Dunkirk had 32 of its 35 staffed acute care beds full, with 13 of its patients hospitalized with COVID-19. Westfield Memorial Hospital had four of its six beds full, with one of those four beds being a patient hospitalized with COVID-19.

A year ago, when COVID-19 began its winter surge, all three hospitals had more space available. UPMC Chautauqua had 46 of its 168 staffed beds available while Brooks-TLC had eight of its 41 beds available. Westfield Memorial Hospital was full.

But there may be good news on the horizon.

“Just to compare, about almost a year ago, a higher spike, you can see the trend is starting to head upward, but it also, because this Omicron variant does not result in such severe cases that require hospitalization. We may not hit those peaks again, but we’re preparing,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a news conference Monday. “We’re preparing for the worst and that’s what I’ve been focused on in particular. So, we had people hospitalized, but we’re still under two thirds of what we were this time last year during the winter surge. So, let’s just remember that, again, I mentioned it’s not March of 2020, it’s not even December 2020, just to keep things in perspective.

Hochul is making $65 million available to counties across New York state to help with the costs associated with administering vaccines and boosters and enforcing the mask-or-vaccine mandate for indoor public places that went into effect statewide last week.

“We really appreciate those who have been on the front lines of this, making sure that this happens,” Hochul said during a press event Monday. “I wanted to thank some of our counties out there today, the county leaders who are doing the right thing. But I also have heard from a number of them that while they support what we’re doing, with masks and vaccinations, they also needed more resources to get this done.

And I said, okay, we got them for you. So we are putting on the table $65 million to help them, associated with the costs for the protocols we put in place. And I will be ensuring that there’s at least a million dollars available for the small counties, which is not insignificant, and up to $2 million for the larger counties.”

Hochul said the money can be used for a variety of things, including purchasing masks and having teams of individuals take them to the stores and the restaurants and their downtown areas to make sure that there’s enough supply when people walk in the door and they can just hand somebody a mask, or if they want to help supplement the staff to make sure that there’s compliance. The governor also mentioned setting up a call center for people to make complaints and sending signs to businesses.

“So we want to make sure that we pick up the costs of this,” Hochul said. “I appreciate all their cooperation and I want them to know we’ll be letting them know how they can get this money as soon as possible.”

The OBSERVER/Post-Journal reached out to County Executive PJ Wendel’s office regarding the funding offered to counties to help with the costs associated with enforcing the mask-or-vaccine mandate. Wendel’s administrative aide Amanda Gallagher said he had no comment on the matter. “He just got off the phone with county executives from across the state. There’s no guidance now in place for this now, so he’s not making any statements,” she said Tuesday afternoon.

Wendel said last week he supports people wearing masks in public places, but that the county Health Department doesn’t have the staff to enforce Hochul’s mask mandate in every business throughout the county.

Under the mandate, businesses can either require proof of vaccination for entry or ensure all patrons 2 years and older wear a mask. Violators could face civil and criminal penalties, including a maximum fine of $1,000.

“Our position is the county does not have the resources to send out health inspectors (or others) … to find out who’s not going to comply,” he said.

Up to $1 million will be available for most counties, with larger counties eligible to receive up to $2 million. The money will apply to expenses incurred by counties and local health departments from when the “mask-or-vaccine” mandate was announced on Dec. 10 until its expiration on Jan. 15, and will be provided on a reimbursement basis through an application to the Department of Health. Eligible expenses include staffing and venue-specific costs for any sites offering vaccines, boosters, and/or tests; personnel costs associated with mask, test, and vaccine/booster distribution; personnel costs associated with mask protocol enforcement; and public awareness efforts for the mask-or-vaccine protocol.

Counties that participate in the enforcement of the statewide mask-or-vax mandate will be eligible to apply for this additional assistance. Funding for other costs is still available for all counties from a separate $65 million made available in September.

Wendel also had concerns unrelated to state funding — but that is something Hochul can’t address with money.

“Some people are looking for a conflict. I’m not looking for that. We’re not looking to increase the conflict among our businesses. They’ve had enough,” he said.