The Erie County Department of Health is keeping its eyes on a recent trend in the coronavirus pandemic: an increase in cases in younger adults.

What You Need To Know


  • More than 50% of new cases last week were of people ages 20-39
  • Increase caused by travel and large gatherings
  • Health commissioner urges people not to let guards down

"COVID-19 is still in our community and the minute we start to let down our guard, we're going to end up with very high numbers," said Erie County Health Commissioner Dr. Gale Burstein.

Last week, there were more than 19,000 COVID tests performed in Erie County, with more than 250 coming back positive. Despite the low positivity rate, officials are concerned with some of the demographics associated with the stats. They've noticed people in their 20s and 30s make up more than 53% of the new positive cases.

Dr. Burstein said, "What we're hearing from our contact tracers is that many of our individuals report risk factors in the past two weeks of going to large parties or large gatherings or going to restaurants and bars and where none of those people were wearing masks."

Just last weekend, the health department shut down The Cowboy on Chippewa in downtown Buffalo because of coronavirus-related violations. Dr. Burstein says it's up to bars and restaurants to regulate crowds and people wearing masks in their establishments and if they don't, they could be forced to close their doors.

The health commissioner also attributes the spike in cases in young adults to travel. This comes as Governor Cuomo requires travelers to quarantine if they come to New York from more than a dozen states that have significant community spread of the virus.

"If people have holidays planned where they're going to be in those 19 states on the governor's hit list, and they're on the governor's hit list for a reason because there are documented very high numbers in those states, they should consider rescheduling or rebooking to another time where COVID-19 is not such a threat in those states," Dr. Burstein said.

The health commissioner is urging people to wear masks if they can't socially distance, avoid large gatherings, and wash their hands frequently. She says even though the COVID positivity rate is low for now, numbers can still slowly rise with the spike in cases in young people. 

"We've worked so hard in the past few months to get our numbers down and we don't want to throw it all away just because people decided to travel or people decide it's more important for them to go to a party without masking," she said. 

ECDOH online COVID-19 antibody test scheduling forms can be found here. For diagnostic COVID-19 testing through ECDOH, call (716) 858-2929.