Madison Co. Officials Reassure Public After 'Drastic Uptick'

Madison County officials are looking to offer some reassurance to resident after what the public health director acknowledges is a 'drastic uptick' in new COVID-19 cases in recent days.

Since Friday, May 1, the county has seen it's total number of active positive cases jumped from 70 to 121. However, health official called many of their new cases 'isolated incidents', including a number of cases at The Grand Rehabilitation and Nursing in Chittenango, and the COVID-19 outbreak at Green Empire Farms, announced by Oneida County officials earlier in the day.

Via a news release from Madison County leaders on Monday read:

Another reason for the uptick in positive cases is that Madison County began to see some positive test results from workers at Green Empire Farms. As a result, MCDOH worked closely with the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) to set up a testing site to test all of the workers at the greenhouse and those in close contact with them. On the first day of testing, we were able to test 186 people. The majority of the new positive cases are a direct result of conducing this targeted testing. Now that we know who is positive, we can isolate and quarantine individuals sooner, which helps prevent further spread of the virus.

The county's Public Health Director, Eric Faisst also urged the public no to go out, unless they have to:

“We understand that this drastic uptick in numbers can be concerning for our residents. Please know we are doing everything we can to protect our residents, but we need your help and cooperation,” continued Faisst. “I would like to remind the public that people should wear a face covering when you are out in public, especially when they are unable to maintain social distancing, such as when in a store. Also, members of the public should be staying home. Do not go out unless you have to, and if you do go out, wear a face covering. We all have to be smart. If anything can be learned from these numbers, it is that this virus spreads quickly and easily. These guidelines are for all of our protection to stop the spread of COVID-19 in our community.”

Sadly, Madision County also announced it's sixth death to-date from COVID-19. The victim is said to be an elderly resident of The Grand who had underlying medical conditions.

County officials say they'll offer more updates to the public on Tuesday.

(A previous version of this story indicated Madison County had 121 postivie cases. It has been corrected to reflect 121 was the number of active, postive cases.)

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