With a spike in COVID-19 cases and fatalities being reported in the region again, Broome County’s executive is resuming weekly updates and the county begins rapid testing again.
Jason Garnar says residents the county has gone from no new fatalities for days or even weeks to several new deaths from the pandemic a week. Friday, September 24, the Democrat reported a man in his 90s had passed away, bringing Broome’s death toll to 375. Garnar says the situation with the latest surge warrants more regular reports to residents.
Garnar on September 24 reported 119 new cases, bringing Broome’s pandemic total to 21,662. Local health officials say the largest number of new cases, unfortunately, are in children age zero to 17 who are not eligible to get a vaccine. The second largest group is age 18 to 24.
A new county dashboard breaks down the numbers in several categories including age groups, sex, cases in people who have been vaccinated as well as death statistics. The breakdown, which is updated weekdays, can be found at gobroomecounty.com.