Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon confirmed 28 additional cases of the novel coronavirus Wednesday, raising the total number of reported cases in the county to 277.

The novel coronavirus causes COVID-19, a respiratory disease that has infected at least 932,600 people and killed 46,800 worldwide. New York state has confirmed 83,712 cases as of Wednesday, and 1,941 people have died. One person has died of the virus in Onondaga County.

“The COVID-19 virus is every part of our county,” McMahon said at a media briefing. “It doesn’t matter where you live, people in your community have the virus.”

McMahon urged county residents to stay home and practice social distancing. The Onondaga County Health Department has found that many of the developing cases could be the result of community members spending time in groups of just 10 to 12 people, he said.

There are currently 27 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in the county, and 14 are in critical condition, he said.

Local hospitals have implemented visitation rules preventing patients from seeing their loved ones, McMahon said. The hospitals are encouraging people to donate old iPhones to patients so they can use FaceTime to see their families and improve their mental health, he said.

“As we’ve said in the beginning, throughout this process, different things happen in the community and everyone has different needs,” he said.

Onondaga County Health Commissioner Indu Gupta also encouraged those exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19 to participate in New York state’s Message and Monitoring text message system.

The message system will allow health professionals to be in direct contact with patients and monitor their symptoms, Gupta said at the briefing.

“I am asking anybody who has (a case) and our contacts, please work with us, please participate in this,” Gupta said. “It helps us reach out to you in a timely manner and more efficiently.”

Published on April 1, 2020 at 8:24 pm

Contact Maggie: mehicks@syr.edu | @maggie_hickss