Like leaders in many other counties, Madison County leaders are urging people to take social distancing more seriously. Their health director believes the virus may have been here earlier than was thought.

"We have identified some of the positive cases linked to events that occurred before the bans went into place, which means people were here with the disease. They could have traveled. They could have come from some other areas, but it was here before we realized it," said Madison County Public Health Director Eric Faisst.

Faisst said he doesn't know how long the coronavirus could have been in the area for.

He said cases are going up, but so are recoveries.

"We continue to test more and more people," said Faisst. "As a result, I think our numbers better reflect what is truly happening in our community."

He questions the reporting in a recent article identifying Madison County as having "the highest rate of coronavirus cases per capita of any county in Upstate New York."

"A couple reasons why I think our numbers may seem higher is because I think we're more aggressive in identifying our positive cases and the number of people exposed, and we are constantly testing. So a combination of those things, I believe, is why our numbers truly reflect what's happening. I believe the other counties may be under-reporting," Faisst said.

Leaders urge people to practice social distancing and not gather. Otherwise, as much as Sheriff Todd Hood doesn't want to, he said they'll have to enforce it.

"There's social order laws. There's disorderly conduct, obstructing governmental administration. We don't want to be doing that here in our county. So we're just asking people to help out. We don't want to get involved in a situation like that. People have enough going on," Hood said.