Erie County mask mandate for everyone began on Monday.

[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.