March 20, 2020 by Staff

Niagara County Provides Update on Three New Confirmed COVID-19 Cases

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Niagara County Public Health Director Daniel J. Stapleton this afternoon released the following statement regarding the three positive COVID-19 test results the Niagara County Department of Health received today from the New York State Health Department. These three individuals live in western Niagara County, which includes Niagara Falls and the towns of Niagara, Lewiston and Porter.

Director Stapleton released the following statement:

I recognize the public wants as much information as possible as soon as possible. We are doing our best to get that out. Our initial priority is quarantining those who were in close, regular contact with these individuals because that is the key to reducing community spread. With three cases, that effort is taking time but our team is working hard. A full contact trace that looks back at all the places an individual has been will take between 24 and 48 hours and will be released as soon as we can. At this time, we cannot say for sure if the disease was contracted through community spread or exposure through travel to a hot zone, but all signs seem to be pointing toward community spread.

This is the information we have right now on each positive result:

An 83 year-old man who tested positive at Mount St. Mary’s who has underlying health complications and is currently in a local health care facility.
A 62 year-old man who tested positive at a Kaleida facility, who does not have any apparent underlying health complications and is currently isolating at home.
A 62 year-old female, who tested positive at a Kaleida facility. It is unknown at this time about any underlying health condition. She is isolating at home.

Stapleton said none of these individuals were under County Health Department quarantine and none are connected to each other. This means that each came into contact with COVID-19 due to community spread. As of today, there are 42 individuals in quarantine and four in isolation which include the three new positive cases. The County Health Department is also still waiting on five pending test results.