Onondaga County has confirmed 45 additional cases of the novel coronavirus, County Executive Ryan McMahon announced Sunday. 

The novel coronavirus causes COVID-19, a respiratory disease that has infected more than 300,000 people and killed over 14,000 globally. New York state has confirmed over 15,168 cases, and 114 people have died.

Of the 45 confirmed cases in Onondaga County, 13 are from the city of Syracuse, McMahon said at daily media briefing. Six of the cases are connected to the other 39, he said.

Four people in the county have been hospitalized from the virus, said Indu Gupta, Onondaga County health commissioner, at the briefing. One patient is in critical condition, while three are in stable condition and may be discharged soon, she said.

The county is conducting thousands of tests each day and expects a higher number of quarantined individuals to test positive, McMahon said. Test results take about three to five days to process.

“Every one of us is going to know of somebody at some point who is going to be in a quarantine,” McMahon said.

McMahon said he’s concerned about individuals not taking social distancing measures seriously. The county has been sharing more data that he hopes will make people realize the severity of the situation, he said.

Over 40% of people who have tested positive in the county are under 40 years old, McMahon said. Most of the cases are contracted through community spread or travel to other parts of the county or the world. 

The county will continue to share updated data on the COVID-19 outbreak with the community, McMahon said.

“We’re gonna report the positives, we’re gonna report the negatives,” McMahon said. “We need to get these people better and most of them will.”

McMahon also expressed support for New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposal to have the federal government invoke the Defense Production Act, which would require factories to manufacture medical supplies like ventilators and masks. 

The county has not purchased its own ventilators, but its hospital system has not seen a shortage of these devices, McMahon said. The county is preparing for the worst and is taking a potential shortage into account, he said.

“We’re planning for the next step,” McMahon said. “In the next three weeks there might be a next step we have to plan for.”

Published on March 22, 2020 at 6:20 pm

Contact Sarah: scalessa@syr.edu | @sarahalessan