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Seven new COVID cases tied to Essex Center

Seven new cases of COVID-19 have been found in Essex County, all of them tied to a nursing home in the county seat.

The seven new cases reported Thursday, at Essex Center in Elizabethtown, bring the total number of positive cases connected to the outbreak there to 95. Of the new cases announced on Thursday, six were lab-confirmed. The seventh case is a person who is hospitalized with a suspected, but not lab-confirmed, case of COVID-19.

Seven Essex Center residents have died from COVID-19 in the past 17 days. Four residents are hospitalized.

Altogether, there were nine active cases of COVID-19 in Essex County on Thursday, down from 17 on Wednesday. Six Essex Center staff were deemed “recovered” on Thursday — though some people who test positive for COVID-19 experience symptoms for weeks or months after they’re considered noncontagious and recovered — as were two people who had tested positive after coming in contact with staff.

At least 159 people countywide have tested positive for COVID-19 since March. Another 17 people were suspected by their doctor of having COVID-19, but either weren’t tested or didn’t have testing available to them at the time they were diagnosed.

Neighboring Franklin County reported two active cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, one new case since Wednesday. The county has seen at least 54 lab-confirmed and 103 suspected cases since March.

Franklin County has had one COVID-19 death, according to the state Department of Health — though the county’s Public Health department has disputed that and says there are none.

No COVID-19 deaths have taken place in neighboring Hamilton County, but one Hamilton County resident died outside of the county, according to the state and county health departments. Hamilton County has seen at least 16 lab-confirmed cases since March, as of Tuesday.

Statewide, there were seven recorded COVID-19 fatalities and 889 new cases on Wednesday — bringing the total to 437,107 confirmed cases since March. The state’s infection rate was 0.99% on Wednesday. New York’s infection rate has remained below 1% for 27 days, according to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office.

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