Most Southern Tier Counties being tracked in regular updates since the start of the coronavirus outbreak have reported new deaths over the past few days.
Recently, there had been a drop in new COVID cases but the number of serious illness requiring hospitalization and deaths in the Southern Tier have been up.
New York State plans to start testing wastewater in all counties across New York State for variants of the coronavirus and track changes in concentration.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul has announced more than 20-million COVID-19 tests are being distributed throughout the Spring to help control the disease.
Broome County officials have announced the new variant of the coronavirus, first identified only a few weeks ago in South Africa, has made it to Broome County.