Chautauqua County is hoping it is “beyond our peak of cases” regarding COVID-19

Breeanne Agett, epidemiologist with the county Health Department, said what happened here was consistent with trends across the state and country as COVID-19 cases surged in December 2020 and January 2021. “With vaccinations on the rise and winter holidays in the books, we are hopeful that our county is now beyond our peak of cases,” commented Agett. “Our highest reported number of daily cases was 265 on January 9.”

In December, 2,008 cases of COVID were reported in the county with January having 2,882 — the highest month total of the pandemic. So far through Feb. 18, there have been 836 cases.

Residents should continue to take standard COVID-19 precautions and follow state and CDC COVID-19 guidelines. New variants around the globe continue to threaten progress made toward overcoming the pandemic.

As of Feb. 13, Chautauqua County 11,457 residents have received a first dose of COVID-19 vaccine and 506 have received the second dose. Full immunity is not achieved until 14 days after the second dose, Agett said.