For 18 months, Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon took a dais inside the OnCenter to provide an update on the status of the COVID-19 pandemic as the virus took hold on every day life. At Thursday's press conference, McMahon said it would be the final regularly scheduled coronavirus briefing.

"There is a lot of work to do in other areas, and we really need to refocus our efforts there," McMahon said. "We will never take our eye off this thing. We will always watch this virus. We respect this virus. But, the good news is we are not in a position where I need to be here once a week talking about this virus anymore."

The county has just 37 active cases, down from a peak of 6,027 on January 3.

The winter and the height of a second wave in the county accounted for one of the low points for the county executive, he said.

"Going into the second wave, when you'd have the loss of life, and we were very, very close to having our hospital infrastructure overwhelmed," McMahon said. "There was a lot on the line."

Between November 1 and February 28, coronavirus-related deaths in Onondaga County more than tripled.

"We had to execute plans that were just plans," McMahon said. "We did it all. A lot of it was on the fly. You don't know if it is going to work or not.

"We are going to take all these lessons. We know where our infrastructure may not have performed as well, and we will make that stronger."

The key to keeping the coronavirus, and its variants, at bay will be to vaccinate, said McMahon.

Onondaga County will continue its weekly vaccination clinic on Tuesdays at the Civic Center, and will host pop-up clinics throughout the community.

"That's the tool that has gotten us to where we are," McMahon said. 

Through June, 65% of all county residents, and 74% of the age of 18, have received at least one dose of the vaccine, McMahon reported.

"We still have work to do," he said. "But, the worst is behind us.

"We will be much stronger moving forward because we had to live through this."