Western New York remains a "caution flag" even as the rest of the state's cases remain low, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Sunday, where the positive rate is at 1.6%. 

Buffalo’s COVID-19 positivity rate is at 5.5% while Erie County’s positivity rate is a 1.5%, Cuomo said. The positivity rate for the Western New York region on Saturday was 1.6%, the highest in the state.

The city of Buffalo’s positivity rate is over five times the average statewide. Cuomo said 1,000 people were tested yesterday with rapid COVID-19 testing in Western New York.

While we work to fight the first wave of the virus, Gov. Cuomo says that we have not hit the second wave. He says the theory around the second wave is that the virus will mutate and come back.

"We're still struggling with that first wave, you look at places like Europe and France that are seeing numbers tick up so we have to be careful," Cuomo added.

Cuomo added that the next COVID-19 challenge will be students heading back to campus. He says 25 colleges around the country have had over 250 cases of the virus. As of Wednesday, University at Buffalo has had three confirmed cases.

"If students act irresponsibly or precautions are not in place, then the virus will spread, and more dramatic action will have to be taken,” he said.

Cuomo deployed a “SWAT team” to the region after an uptick in positive cases.

The governor said it was not random, and people showed up to be tested because they may have the virus.

"What we will do is track these contacts...fear of community spread so this is separate from just clusters that is spreading from clusters to the community...monitor and control them,” Cuomo said.

Meanwhile, the state’s hospitalizations and intubations due to the pandemic have dropped to their lowest levels since mid-March. At the same time, New York’s daily infection rate remains below 1% out of tens of thousands of test results.

Eight temporary rapid COVID-19 testing sites opened Saturday throughout Western New York. For more information on the locations, click here.