Tioga County Public Health officials reported today the deaths of four more people at Elderwood nursing home in Waverly, increasing the total deaths to 10 since the outbreak was first reported on April 26. By policy, Tioga public health does not release any information about the decreased, only that a person has died from COVID-19.
Almost 60 days after a state of emergency was declared in Tioga County after the first coronavirus case was confirmed, the county is in good health and officials are guardedly optimistic about the days ahead as Gov. Andrew Cuomo lays the course for slowly reopening first construction and manufacturing and then other businesses. Tioga County Legislature Chairwoman Marte Sauerbrey offered the assessment this morning’s first of what she said will be live weekly updates on the COVID-19 outbreak in Tioga County.
Listen to Martha Sauerbrey:
Sauerbrey and other Tioga County officials held a news conference Wednesday in the county office building. The conference was streamed live by Your Hometown Station WEBO … you can watch it on our Facebook page.
With the state sending more and more signals that business and other activities will soon gradually reopen in many upstate counties with low numbers of confirmed cases and hospitalizations … that includes Tioga County. As that day comes, Kylie Holochak, information officer at Tioga Public Heath issued a reminder that we need to approach this long-awaited reopening with caution.
Listen to Kylie Holochak:
On paper, Tioga County’s report of 97 confirmed case is somewhat deceiving because 64 of those cases are connected to Elderwood nursing home in Waverly … that means Tioga County’s number of confirmed cases among the general population is 33 … all 10 of the county’s deaths from COVID-19 were Elderwood residents; no one in Tioga County’s general population has died from the virus.
