Erie County mask mandate for everyone began on Monday.

[wnylib]

The Erie County infection rate is among the highest in the state at 9.5 currently, but fluctuates between 9 and 10.

Hospitals are at full capacity or nearly full - before the holidays even begin.

All people in any indoor place must wear a mask to try to bring down the infection rate. If it does not work, then curfews and shutdowns might be next.

Buffalo is a blue city, but there are red suburbs and rural areas around it. Contributing to the rising infection rate is the fact that, after the vaccines came out and the CDC lifted its mask guidelines, people abandoned masks and social distancing completely. At the same time, theaters, concerts, football games, restaurants, spas, and beauty parlors all opened up.

Within weeks, the delta variant arrived, but almost nobody returned to masks and social distancing. So now it is mandatory.

[bucolic_frolic]

1. Okay, I know, no Buffalo jokes

but they have all that culture in Buffalo? Last I heard, and this was several years ago, it was emptying out with vacant houses in the older burbs ... this from a YouTube video I surely could never find again.

[wnylib]

3. There are empty houses in Buffalo

as in any city.

Regarding culture, there is a philharmonic orchestra, an arts center, art museum, natural history museum, various live theaters, and several colleges and universities that bring in speakers and performers, a Seneca casino, restaurant, and hotel in the city and another nearby with dining and live performances. There is also tourist business from Niagara Falls. Other social activities include a football team, hockey team, school sports teams, bands, and theater performances.

[Bleacher Creature]

2. I drove up from DC last weekend for the Bills game.

Aside from the game being terrible, I was shocked by how much people were acting like the pandemic was over. I saw very few masks in Williamsville, and when I did carry out at an Italian place every single person in the packed restaurant was maskless and on top of each other.

[wnylib]

4. That's about par for the course in western NY.

I am not in Erie County, but close enough that there is frequent daily travel between my city and Buffalo. We are right behind Buffalo in our infection rate, sometimes tied with them.

I just got my Moderna booster last Wednesday, but still wear an N95 and social distance when I need to go into a public place. In some stores, e g. CVS and two grocery stores where I shop, all employees and most customers wear masks. But elsewhere, nobody does.

I live in a senior complex of two multistoried apartment buildings that have a management office and maintenance staff. Very few residents here wear masks. None of the office or maintenance personnel do. Recently a maintenance guy went around all the apartments putting in new filters for our heaters. I was just about to take out some trash when he arrived at my apartment, so I already had a mask on. He did not. Anticipting that, I had already tied knots in the ear loops of a surgical mask to leave no gaps at the cheeks and handed it to him in the hallway for him to put on before entering. Considering the infection rate here and the fact that he was going from one apartment to the next, there is no way in hell that I would have let him inside without a mask.

[wnylib]

5. O.M.G.!! My county released its weekly

statistics today for the number of new cases, deaths, and hospitalizations. The total county population is under 130,000. There are 2 small cities, some villages and hamlets, and the rest is rural farms.

New cases this week were 225 more than last week. The total new cases for this week's statistics is 663. Hospitalizations doubled to 50. There are only 2 hospitals in the county. The infection rate is over 9%.

In some of the hamlets, the number of new infections is so high that everyone in the community must be infected. From the beginning of the pandemic, the total deaths under age 60 is only 28. The rest are all over 60. Gives me a lot to be cautious about at age 72.