Just as he had many times before, Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon held a press conference Thursday to provide the latest information on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

But as the state and county approach one year since the first coronavirus cases were reported, McMahon on Thursday was also reflective of the challenges faced on so many fronts in the last 12 months.

“It’s been a tough year,” he said after announcing another four people had died of the virus in the last 24 hours, making the county’s total death toll now 664.

McMahon on Wednesday testified to the House Homeland Security Committee in a hearing focused on the federal government's response to the pandemic and how it could better support local municipalities. He pointed out several issues the county dealt with toward the beginning of the pandemic, including PPE shortages and a lack of CARES Act funding, as well as his own personal experience with visionary problems over the last few weeks.

He said Thursday that relaying that information to members of Congress was “traumatic just thinking about everything we’ve been through.”

“If you remember last March when this all started, and it feels like a decade ago right? It just feels so long ago,” McMahon said. “We didn’t know how long this would go on. We didn’t know. We saw how fast and how damaging this was impacting the rest of the world so you prepare for the worst-case scenarios.

He said the planning and preparing started when it was clear how the virus was impacting China and then Europe.

“We started preparing, then we started mitigating. Then we had our case and then the response started. Then the response became very complicated and very intense,” he said. “And then you had kind of your lull and your restart becomes your focus of how you get your economy going.”

With the vaccine rollout continuing, McMahon was also optimistic about how things look going forward as the virus transcends into its second year.

“It’s amazing that this all happened within 12 months,” he said. “It really is. So it’s... traumatic to think back through all this, but how much as a community we’ve accomplished in the face of the 100-year pandemic, I think people should be proud. And I think we’re going to get through this. And we’re going to get through this sooner than people think. I have great faith that we’re going to get more vaccine supply in the next four to six weeks, and when we do, our commitment is we’ll do everything we can to get this in people’s arms fast.”