Deadly Day in the Southern Tier for COVID-19

Another deadly day is being reported in the Southern Tier as the coronavirus pandemic drags on past 312 days.

Broome County reported four men in their 50s, 60s and 90s died January 6 while there were 256 new cases of COVID-19, bringing Broome’s total number of cases over 9K: (9,090.)

Chenango County reports three more lives lost for a total of 21 and 20 new cases. Chenango County has a total of 1,357positive test results to-date.

Cortland County reports another nursing home death for a total number of deaths at 49, the majority of those in nursing homes and 47 new cases for a total of 2,692.

Delaware County January 7 reported another death for a total of 16 and 24 new cases for a total of 827 while Tioga County reported 36 new cases but no additional deaths. The death toll in Tioga remains at 64. Tioga County is poised to reach 2,000 COVID-19 cases January 8.  January 7, the Health Department reported the total number of cases at one-thousand, 989.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, meanwhile says he and many health officials in the state are worried about the new variant of COVID-19 spreading through Great Britain. Cuomo says while there has been only one case confirmed in New York in Saratoga County, he believes there are more.  The Democrat says the mutation is hard to test for.  He says with the more rapid spread of the new version of the virus, he and local government leaders are concerned about what a more infectious variant will do to already tenuous hospital capacity rates.

There were 8,585 New Yorkers hospitalized with COVID-19 January 7, 1,424 of those in Intensive Care Units.