Monroe County and several other area counties have now moved up the chart according to a federal agency in terms of the impacts from COVID-19.
It was just about a week ago that Monroe and Ontario counties were considered in the ‘medium’ category for community levels of COVID-19 by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
But now, the CDC has classified those counties and several other area counties as being of high risk from the coronavirus.
Altogether, nearly two dozen counties in New York state are in that classification now. Besides Monroe and Ontario, other area counties considered to be at high risk include Wayne, Orleans, Steuben and Seneca.
The CDC looks at factors such as the number of new COVID-19 cases and related hospital admissions.
One change for communities that are considered to be at high risk is that the CDC recommends people in those areas wear a mask indoors in public, regardless of their vaccination status. And that includes in K-12 schools and other indoor community settings.
On Friday, Monroe County reported 393 new confirmed cases. There are currently 269 people hospitalized in the Finger Lakes region with COVID. Of that total, 25 are in the ICU.