SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — Onondaga County has 222 new cases of COVID-19, shattering the single day record and bringing the active case total to 968, County Executive Ryan McMahon announced on Wednesday.
The previous record was 98 on Tuesday.
McMahon said Halloween parties played a big factor in the spike.
“The contact tracing shows that there were multiple events around the community that led to multiple spread,” McMahon said. “And this wasn’t just high school kids, it wasn’t just college kids – these were neighborhood parties.”
This comes the same day New York State’s yellow zone restrictions were placed on parts of the county due to a large increase in coronavirus cases.
“There are consequences of our actions,” McMahon said.
Yellow zone restrictions allow restaurants to remain open, but there can only be four people per table.
Schools can still operate in-person, but at least 20% of students and faculty must be tested weekly.
“This is a huge effort, and you have our commitment that we will try to make this happen,” McMahon said. “So our children keep going and learning in person. It’s safe, and we want that to happen.”
He added, “so we are rearranging the county government to reach this challenge. We are taking dozens and dozens of employees that are not doing what they do normally, and they are going to be doing testing.”
While the County is making an effort to keep K-12 schools in person, Syracuse University announced Wednesday that classes are moving online for the remainder of the semester. The school reported 52 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the active total to 180. Four hundred and ninety one students are in quarantine.
This comes roughly two weeks before the original plan to end in-person classes the week of Thanksgiving. A few days ago, because of an increase in cases, the university announced that they would transition to online learning starting next week. But now, they decided to do so Thursday.
“Our community has done an extraordinary job navigating this semester in the face of so many challenges,” Syracuse Chancellor Kent Syverud said in a statement. “We were so close to finishing the semester together with in-person instruction and activities on campus. I regret we have to pause now, but it is the right decision.”
While Syracuse students are heading back home, residents of the Salt City will have to adjust to new restrictions.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday that all bars and restaurants with a liquor license must close by 10 p.m. starting Friday.
Additionally, indoor gatherings across the state cannot exceed 10 people. That will also start being enforced Friday at 10 p.m.
“COVID is getting worse by the day,” Cuomo tweeted. “All around the country. The fall surge is here.”
Cuomo added, “If these measures aren’t sufficient to reduce the spread — we’ll turn the valve more and part of that would be reducing the number of people indoor dining.”
If you are feeling sick, or would like to get tested asymptomatically, you can register for a free COVID-19 test at ongov.net.
“The best way for us as a community to get out of the yellow zone and have a good argument to lift some of these restrictions is to turn this thing around, to re-engage,” McMahon said.
“We need to distance, limit our gatherings, and if we do this, and hunker in and really commit to this, we’ll drive our data down,” he said.
