Afternoon News Brief
Written by Tom Tharp on November 9, 2020
Parts of Western NY are now designated yellow zones for their increase in COVID-19 cases. Amherst, Aurora, buffalo, Cheektowaga and many more towns are ow under increased restrictions including a 25 person maximum for mass gatherings indoors and out, 4 people max at restaurant tables, mandatory weekly testing for teachers, students and staff and houses of worship must be under 50 percent capacity. Erie county was at a 6.3 percent positivity rate. Also newly designated as yellow zones are Onondaga and Monroe counties. New York still has one of the lowest positivity rates in the nation. Across the US there were over 126,000 new cases and more than 1000 deaths on Saturday. In New York 18 people died from COVID, 4 of them in Erie County.
Researchers at Cornell University have created a new interactive map to track COVID 19 cases in schools in New York State. The web based tool is called NYS School District COVID 19 tracker. It estimates cases and spread based on geography , demographics, and socioeconomic factors, pulling in data from state and county education and health departments.
Gas prices keep on dropping. In Batavia it is down to 2.18 a gallon which is 1 penny below last week. The Energy Information Administration predicts that prices will keep dropping but gasbuddy.com says that in about 6 weeks there may be an increase as stimulus and relief may buoy it back up. The dropping prices are because of lower demand and an increase in the amount of domestic oil available.
Buffalo broke records today and yesterday with the temperature going over 70 degrees before noon today and yesterday it hit a high of 73 degrees. The record of most over 60 degree days in November is set to be broken by Wednesday. All these records are over 8 decades old with the one broken yesterday being 129 years old.
