We will be starting today's update very shortly with a slightly different look.

Today we have some new information. Good news is that our 7-day rate has lowered and we saw two days of decline in hospitalizations.

However, we were informed of more mortality data bringing the number of lives lost to 976. Our condolences to the families and friends of those lost.

Here is the summary of diagnostic testing from the last six weeks. We are very happy to see a decrease from 7.4% to 6.4% from the last two weeks.

Below are the new COVID cases by ZIP code for the week ending 12/12/20.

As noted before, we are seeing decline in hospitalizations in both Erie County and WNY. 20% of patients are in ICU with 76.7% of beds occupied.

Race and ethnicity breakdowns. Again, we have lost 976 members of our community to COVID-19. Without a continuous effort by all of us we could lose 1,000 by the end of the year. Wear a mask.

Here is a breakdown by month and age since our community started responding to COVID-19.

We wanted to provide a new comparison for when people don't wear masks or take basic safety protocols. South Dakota has a smaller population than Erie County and does not have any mask or safety mandates.

South Dakota has seen more deaths (1,259) than our community has (976) even though it is much less dense. Most of the deaths in South Dakota have happened in November and December.