ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A state of emergency has been declared in Monroe County, effective immediately, due to the sharp increase in local hospitalizations caused by COVID-19.
The announcement was made on Tuesday by County Executive Adam Bello and Dr. Michael Mendoza, the county's commissioner of public health.
Nearly 450 people across the Finger Lakes region are hospitalized with COVID-19 and roughly 25% of those patients are in an ICU. The region makes up about 20% of all COVID-related hospitalizations across the state.
According to Bello, the county will implement Phase 1 of its COVID-19 prevention measures starting on Wednesday.
Those measures include:
- All employees at county facilities are required to wear a mask, as well as any visitors
- Local businesses are being asked to also require masks, but it is not mandated by the county
- Rapid test sites in the city of Rochester, Greece, and Pittsford are being expanded
- County will distribute 750,000 free rapid test kits to everyone in the county before Christmas
- County workers who are able to work from home will do so
- Mask-wearing in public, hand washing, social distancing encouraged
“Some may ask, 'why not just enact a county wide mask mandate or limit gatherings or respond with other mandates enacted last year?" Bello said. "The answer is this is not the same pandemic as last year”
The county executive says mandates for masks and/or vaccinations are not being implemented for the rest of the county as part of Phase 1. Bello says if COVID-19 hospitalizations continue to rise, then the county will need to move on to Phase 2 prevention measures. State of emergency measures will remain in place until local COVID-19 hospitalizations are stabilized.
University of Rochester Chief Medical Officer Dr. Michael Apostololakos and Rochester Regional Health Chief Medical Officer Dr. Robert Mayo also spoke during the news conference on Tuesday. They say bed capacity at their hospitals is being stretched thin largely due to unvaccinated individuals. They say they are working to avoid the need for canceling elective procedures, but they are prioritizing more urgent surgeries at this time.
“A greater proportion of our hospitalized patients this year are severely ill,” Mendoza said. “Nearly one quarter of hospitalized COVID patients are in the ICU. That’s a 50% increase compared to last year at this time”
Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency in New York last Friday in an effort to prepare the state for the arrival of the omicron variant. Her executive order is designed to boost hospital capacity and solve staffing shortages ahead of an expected spike in COVID-19 cases.
Hochul says her order will will target areas with the least available bed capacity. Both Rochester Regional Health and URMC health systems are considered to be at or below 10% available bed capacity.