The Monroe County public health department said Tuesday that fewer than 100 people were in hospitals for COVID-19 treatment in the county. That marks the first time in more than a month that the number, now at 88, has fallen below triple digits.
Three more people in the county died of COVID-19, the health department said, bringing the total death toll to 264.
The county reported 30 newly confirmed novel coronvirus cases -- the highest single-day count in more than two weeks -- but public health commissioner Dr. Michael Mendoza said what looks like a spike in new cases actually represents reporting catching up to reality.
The samples that those tests were run on were collected over the last week, Mendoza said. The county only got the results of the tests on Tuesday.
Overall, the burden of COVID-19 on the local health care system has been decreasing, even as reopening continues, Mendoza said. As a result, local hospitals are now relaxing some of the visitor restrictions they implemented earlier in the epidemic as they worked to control the disease's spread.
