Orleans, Genesee see nearly 3,000 new Covid cases in past week

Charts compiled by Genesee & Orleans County Health Departments

Both Orleans and Genesee counties are reporting a major increase in Covid cases in the past week with nearly 3,000 in the two counties.

Orleans County has 855 new confirmed cases from Jan. 5 to Jan. 11, with 622 from lab-based tests and 233 home tests, the Genesee and Orleans County Health Departments reported today.

The 855 is up from 379 the previous week, Dec. 29 to Jan. 4, and 159 the week earlier, from Dec. 22 to Dec. 28.

The 855 cases in Orleans represents 2.1 percent of the total population of 40,343. Orleans has now had 7,654 positive Covid cases since the pandemic started nearly two years ago in March 2020.

Genesee is reporting 1,848 during the week from Jan. 5 to Jan. 11 with 1,523 from lab-based tests and 325 from home tests. That’s up from 383 the previous week, Dec. 29 to Jan. 4, and from 276 on Dec. 22 to Dec. 28.

“Due to the Omicron variant, the post-holiday Covid-19 surge, the delay in case investigations, and the recent change in case investigation protocol, the Genesee and Orleans County Covid-19 data reflects a dramatic increase in our cases for this week’s report,” the G-O Health Departments stated.

The 1,848 new cases in one week represents 3.2 percent of Genesee’s total population of 58,388. Genesee has now had 12,105 confirmed cases of Covid since the pandemic started in March 2020.

Genesee also is reporting another Covid-related death of a person over 65. Genesee has had 164 Covid-related deaths during the pandemic and Orleans has had 104, but none in the past week.

The local health departments today are shifting to providing weekly Covid updates on Wednesdays, instead of twice a week on Mondays and Thursdays.