Herkimer County Releases Flu Numbers with COVID-19 Cases

Herkimer County Legislative Chairman Vincent Bono asked his Director of Public Health, Christina Cain, to include 2019-20 influenza numbers when she released her data on COVID-19 Friday afternoon.

"I asked her to add that number," Bono said. When asked if he was sending the message to the public that the coronavirus its being overblown for a county like Herkimer, he said no. "I figured let's just put them out there and when this is all over we'll be able to see," he said.

In Herkimer County, this 2019-20 flu season has produced 970 confirmed cases so far as compared to only nine cases of COVID-19.  But, can the county accurately compare the data when so few tests are being conducted on coronavirus cases? "That's hard to tell," Bono said, because "we don't know how many tests the health providers have done." As of Friday, the county had results from 60 tests, 51 of which came back negative for the virus.

The CDC statistics show that on average, 8.3% of the U.S. population will get sick from the flu. Experts are currently predicting that between 40 and 80 percent of Americans will get the coronavirus. Doctors believe, based on the Chinese outbreak data, that COVID-19 is more contagious and the mortality rate is three times that of the flu.

Currently there are 52,318 people who have tested positive for coronavirus in New York State as of Saturday morning, according to Governor Andrew Cuomo at his daily briefing.

COVID-19 Coronavirus Numbers as of 3 p.m. March 27, 2020 for Herkimer County