Niagara County's riding out Covid's fourth wave

Rick Pfeiffer, Niagara Gazette, Niagara Falls, N.Y.
·3 min read

Sep. 18—In mid-August, Niagara County Public Health Director Dan Stapleton said local residents were experiencing a "fourth wave" of the novel coronavirus.

A month later, the wave still hasn't crested.

Statistics released this week show new positive COVID-19 cases in the county continue to tick up, along with the seven-day average positivity rate. And a grim statistic that had disappeared from the health department's weekly report has also made a return.

For the week running from Sept. 9 through Sept. 15, Niagara County recorded the death of two residents from COVID-19 infections. Since the start of the pandemic in March 2020, the county has tallied 371 COVID-19-related deaths.

There are other troubling trends.

"Two-thirds of our new cases are unvaccinated people," Stapleton said. "And a high percentage of our deaths are also unvaccinated."

The county's top public health official also said those that are getting sick are generally younger than those who contacted the virus early in the pandemic. The only real glimmer of hope has been a continued low hospitalization rate.

"Now we're seeing younger groups of people (getting infected). College age and younger," Stapleton said. "They're doing things they haven't done in a year or more. They're engaging in old behaviors. I'm not saying that's the only reason (behind the fourth wave), but I can speculate."

The new positive cases in the most recent week of tracking bring the total number of cases in the county, since March 2020, to 21,485. The health department says 20,741 of those residents have recovered from the virus.

Of 373 currently active COVID-19 cases, 360 people are isolating at home, while 13 individuals are hospitalized.

The county's positivity rate has increase at a rate of just over 0.5% a week for the last month. Stapleton did say that rate has been affected by more people getting tested.

"I'm not pleased with the trend (in the positivity rate)," Stapleton said. "But the colleges have been re-opened for a few weeks and now the public schools are open (for in-person classes). Concerts have resumed and there's football games. All of those things are happening and with that comes increased risk."

That elevated risk level contributed to a recommendation to the County Legislature, by Stapleton, to reinstate a masking requirement for indoor gatherings. On Aug. 31, Legislature Chairman Rebecca Wydysh imposed a requirement for face masks in all county buildings.

"And that's what we are recommending for everybody,:" Stapleton said.

Stapleton said county vaccination clinics at Niagara University and Niagara County Community College have been seen a steady stream of students coming in. But the county-wide vaccination rate, base of those 18 years or older who have received at least one dose of a vaccine, has been stuck at around 71%.

"That's not good enough," the public health director said. "I think the minute we think that's good enough, it won't be good enough. We need these (vaccination) numbers much higher."

Stapleton said, historically, vaccination rates in the mid-80s percentage of the population, would be necessary to blunt the virus.

"We've been saying, vaccination reduces your risk of hospitalization or death," Stapleton said. "And I think these numbers bear that out."