Onondaga County has two confirmed coronavirus cases; county schools close

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Onondaga County has its first two confirmed case of coronavirus, or COVID-19, and the county’s schools closed as of 4 p.m. Monday afternoon.

“As of 8:50 [Monday] morning, we got our first test case confirmed … in Onondaga County. It is a female in [her] 70s,” Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon told reporters in a mid-morning news conference.

The county later in the afternoon announced that the patient’s husband has also contracted COVID-19.

The female patient has a “significant underlying medical history,” Onondaga County Health Commissioner Dr. Indu Gupta said to begin her remarks during the morning announcement.

“She went to the emergency room with symptoms … [had a test taken]… was discharged home. We received the test notification today and contacted the patient for further investigation,” said Gupta.

“The [male] patient has been in isolation at home. This finding was not unexpected due to close contact with his wife,” McMahon said in the afternoon followup announcement.

The female patient had no travel history “as far as we know at this point, but the investigation will continue,” and the patient has “significant symptoms,” she added.

The female patient’s situation is considered a community transmission “because we do not have any travel history in this situation,” Gupta noted.

The health commissioner went on to say that it should serve as a reminder for the community about what local officials “have been talking about for [the] last few weeks in terms of social distancing … as well as personal protective measures, which everybody needs to do. It’s very important.”

Gupta declined to identify which hospital is caring for the female patient, citing her privacy.

“Each hospital has their own isolated units already prepared for this. They’ve been ready for this for weeks,” McMahon said in an answering a reporter’s question about the topic.

And with the positive case, Onondaga County has decided to close all the schools on Monday afternoon.

“We have been working over the weekend with all of our school administrators, with all of our emergency-management team, the City [of Syracuse] … on continuity planning,” said McMahon. “Due to that, we’re very comfortable that each district has a continuity plan in place for their food and nutrition. We have well over 25,000 children that we still have to feed everyday, even when there’s not school in the circumstances.”

Onondaga County is also working on day-care “strategies,” specifically for those who work in medicine locally.

Child-care planning is “critical” in this process because the community can’t have hospital workers and health-care workers staying home to watch their kids when they’re needed in the hospitals.

McMahon will also issue an executive order “formalizing common sense.”

“If you are getting a test and you’re being tested, that means you have symptoms of COVID-19. You are now in that time period where you get a test under a mandatory quarantine. That means you get your test, you go home. You don’t go the grocery store. You don’t stop at the drive-thru,” said McMahon.

Anyone not following the executive order can be charged with a class-A misdemeanor, he noted.

In addition, Onondaga County will take guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) with an executive order prohibiting more than 50 people in any gathering space. The guidance will also be consistent with the state mandate from Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

“If your room is a 50-person capacity room, the [maximum] you can have is 25,” said McMahon.

Message to the community

McMahon acknowledges that the area has reached a point where “the community will be tested.”

“I have a challenge to all of our residents. We have taken steps and measures, without having a virus … so we’re ready for this moment. We are ahead of the curve right now. But we need everybody to continue to look out for your neighbor. We do not need everybody rushing to the grocery store and buying all the food … The grocery stores are going to be open. We need everybody to not create a sense of panic for community members … We are in front of this. We now need to come together as a community and work together to really face this challenge together,” McMahon said.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com