The Tompkins County Health Department says there have now been 4,360 total positive cases in Tompkins County, three more than on Sunday, with a total of 1,260,148 tests conducted. They also say 4,298 patients are listed as released from isolation after having tested positive, five new recoveries, leaving 31 active cases. There was no update on Monday.
As of Tuesday at 7:30am, the Health Department says 803 tests were conducted since the last update. The Tompkins County Health Department has stopped listing vaccine statistics for the TCHD and Cayuga Health vaccine clinics. They’ve maintained NYS vaccine tracking info, showing 67,436 Tompkins County residents have a first dose and 60,008 have completed vaccination (which could be one or two doses, depending on vaccine).
The Health Department says four people are currently hospitalized for COVID-19, the same since Saturday. As of a shift in data this winter, “TCHD is reporting only active cases who are hospitalized,” rather than including patients recovered from COVID who remain hospitalized for other reasons.
There have been 31 deaths from COVID-19 recorded among Tompkins County residents, including the death of an area resident reported last Wednesday. (Two deaths recorded in Tompkins County last spring were of non-residents, and the Health Department is providing separate statistics.)
Cornell University updated its dashboard on Monday to show no new positive cases for May 30, a total of three new positives for the week through May 30, and 0.03% positivity by rate. They say the “rolling two-week on-campus positivity rate” is 0.03% through May 30. Cornell says 81% of its on-campus population has completed vaccinations, including 15,128 students and 9,234 faculty and staff as of May 30. Cornell only updates its dashboard on weekdays.
As of Thursday, May 27 Ithaca College says it has five active positive cases and 269 recovered, with two new positives for the week through May 29. They say the “rolling two-week on-campus cases” is a 0.27% positivity rate in a two-week period beginning May 13, under New York State supplemental guidance tracking. “It includes students and employees accessing campus and does not apply to those who are remote, even if they live in the area. Therefore, it may differ than what is reported as our total case count which includes all known positives regardless of whether they meet this definition,” they say.
“All positive cases are unique individuals,” the Health Department says. Some of the negative test results are people required to be tested multiple times, and so this count is likely to reflect the same person multiple times in many cases.
The Health Department says its statistics now include testing that Cornell University began conducting on July 16. Cornell launched its own COVID-19 data dashboard on August 25.
Please note: We have published this information on a daily basis as provided by the Tompkins County Health Department. We realize there are other entities publishing statistics that don’t look exactly the same. We are going to continue to publish consistent information from a consistent source.
The recovered category in the daily statistics update “refers to individuals who tested positive, but have since resolved symptoms and been released from isolation,” officials say.
Testing remains available at five sampling sites operated by Cayuga Health in the area. The current schedule is 8:30am-4pm Monday through Friday at the Shops at Ithaca Mall site, now in the back parking lot near Regal Cinema.
The Health Department says people who have recovered from a Coronavirus infection but haven’t been released from the hospital for other reasons may no longer be listed as hospitalized for COVID-19, and are counted as recovered, but may not be reflected in their “discharged today” statistics.
We asked the Tompkins County Health Department about their choices to issue only countywide statistics, with no breakdown by municipality within Tompkins County. “We are respecting the privacy of the individuals first and foremost,” spokesperson Samantha Hillson told 14850 Today. “Additionally, because we are a small community and we have a relatively small number of cases we don’t want to create a perception that one part of our community is safer than others.”
The Health Department says the public needs to prevent the spread of COVID-19 not just to protect themselves, but others in our community who are most vulnerable to getting very sick – older adults, those who are immune-compromised, and those with underlying chronic health conditions. Everyone can take these steps to stop the spread of COVID-19 and “flatten the curve” in our community.
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Related: Coronavirus coverage in 14850 Today
