Genesee County is the worst performing county in the Finger Lakes Region as far as COVID-19 cases are concerned, County Manager Matt Landers said minutes ago at the County Legislature meeting being conducted via Zoom videoconferencing.
"Our numbers for the county are abysmal," he said, adding that Genesee's numbers are significantly higher than the other counties in the Finger Lakes Region, including Monroe County. "Our 7-day rolling average jumped up to just under 6 percent.
"Every other county is hovering a 4 (percent) or less. We are on an island of not following guidelines that are in front of us, and I am very fearful that this will lead up to a Yellow zone designation or worse."
Landers said the county is "not on the right path," mentioning that there were 77 cases over the weekend in Genesee, including a record-high 34 on Saturday. He said the county has probably doubled its positive count from the entire eight months in this last month.
He said he sent an email out informing the legislature and department heads about an hour ago of the latest data.
Legislature Chair Rochelle Stein said this is going to have an impact on local businesses.
"They (businesses) are going to take the brunt of behavior of our community members who can not stay apart -- and that's the sadness here," she said.
Landers said that regardless of whether people believe in the masks or believe in the pandemic, he is hoping that "we can appeal to a side of trying to keep our local businesses open ... and it is very alarming and disheartening."
He also said he thinks this situation is avoidable and plans to address the public on WBTA Radio tomorrow with Paul Pettit, public health director for Genesee and Orleans counties.
"We're on a path now that is not sustainable to help our community," Landers said.
Legislator Marianne Clattenburg placed the blame on New York State for its failure to increase testing capacity in Genesee County and all rural counties, in general.
"Rural counties have been ignored and it's not a surprise to me when you see the spikes in the rural areas," she said. "When you have to wait so long to get a test back and by that time, people are out and about and the contacts have been had before the test results get back."
Clattenburg said she sees people wearing masks but the problem is that they are out in the community -- and likely positive for the coronavirus -- but don't know they are positive.
"We're really at a disadvantage compared to our neighbors in Buffalo and Rochester, and it's really a shame," she said.
Landers said he agrees, in part, since Genesee doesn't have the drive-through testing sites as are in place in Monroe, Niagara and Erie counties, but he also pointed out that even the smaller counties are at 4 percent or less and Genesee is at 6 percent.
"We had a few gatherings over the past week or two and now they have gone on to the second and third level, and testing certainly is an issue," he said. "I expressed that concern to the (Finger Lakes Region) control room and I will keep on ... we need more testing."
In another development, the full legislature formally adopted the 2021 county budget, a $143,204,679 All Funds spending plan that calls for a property tax rate of $9.80 per thousand of assessed value -- down 31 cents from the 2020 tax rate.
The amount to be raised by property taxes is $31,451,727 to be raised by property taxes – an increase of $400,069 from 2020.
The county’s General Fund budget has been set at $110,276,137.
