Active COVID-19 cases continue to decline in Cayuga County, but there were five more virus-related deaths on Monday.
The Cayuga County Health Department said three nursing home residents — two women in their 80s and a woman in her 70s — died after testing positive for COVID-19. One of the women was hospitalized at the time of her death.
The health department doesn't disclose the nursing home where the residents lived, but there have been 44 deaths at The Commons on St. Anthony in Auburn.
Two other county residents, a man in his 80s and a man in his 60s, died. They had tested positive for the virus and were hospitalized before their deaths.
There have been 70 COVID-related deaths since the pandemic began in March 2020. January has been the deadliest month for Cayuga County. So far, there are 46 virus-related fatalities this month.
People are also reading…
Because of the federal holiday, the health department admitted two cases on Monday. There are 404 active cases, down from 560 one day ago. The number of individuals in mandatory quarantine decreased from 3,606 to 2,046.
The county's active case total is the lowest since mid-December. The last time there were less than 500 active cases was Dec. 20 when the county had 492 people in mandatory isolation. By the end of December, there were nearly 1,000 active cases.
Cayuga County has 4,311 confirmed COVID-19 cases since March 2020. The active and confirmed case totals exclude 144 cases awaiting admission. These are residents who tested positive for the virus but haven't been placed into isolation.
While case numbers decrease, hospitalizations ticked up again on Monday. There are now 46 COVID-19 patients at Auburn Community Hospital, which is a new record.
Politics reporter Robert Harding can be reached at (315) 282-2220 or robert.harding@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @robertharding.