The Cattaraugus County Health Department is working with school districts to proceed with high- and moderate-risk sports next week.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo opened the door to resume sports during the coronavirus pandemic — providing certain procedures are followed.

The information is being provided to schools, businesses, coaching staffs, athletes and their parents, as well as to youth and adult amateur sports leagues, said Dr. Kevin D. Watkins, the county’s public health director.

“After extended internal consultations and discussions among Western New York county health officials, it has been determined that higher-risk and moderate risk sports may proceed in Western New York according to and in compliance with New York state guidelines,” Watkins said in a statement Tuesday.

The revisions by Cuomo will allow for wrestling, ice hockey, basketball, contact lacrosse and volleyball “to proceed with group training, competitions and tournaments, effective Feb. 1,” Watkins said.

“Face coverings will be required for anyone not actively participating in the sporting activity,” he said. Indoor facilities must limit capacity to no more than 50% occupancy and “spectators will be limited to two per athlete.”

Social distancing protocols, use of facial coverings and enhanced sanitation practices must be followed.

Also, for moderate to higher risk sports, “if an athlete, coach or referee receives a positive COVID-19 diagnosis, all in-person team or group activities including practices, scrimmages, games and meetings will likely result in a 10-day suspension to mitigate the spread of infection,” Watkins said. “Situations will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.”

Watkins said in allowing the higher risk sports, health officials will consider:

• Whether there is a more transmissible variant of COVID-19 identified in the area.

• Local rates of COVID-19 transmission or rate of positivity.

• Local ability to monitor and enforce compliance.

“If persons choose to return to high-risk sports, they must follow the guidelines to reduce the spread of COVID-19,” Watkins said. “Athletes should be mindful of their activity outside of sports to minimize the risk and reduce community spread. We must work together during these stressful times to ensure that our youths and adults have the opportunity to participate in athletics safely.”

The New York State summary guidelines are posted on the NYForward website. Schools, businesses, leagues and other organizations must affirm the state guidelines and develop a safety plan.

Cattaraugus County’s seven-day positivity rate for COVID-19 testing continued to go down on Tuesday, hitting 6%, which is below the state’s rate of 6.7%. Tuesday’s daily average was 4.8% and the 14-day average is 6.4%

There were 43 positive test results from COVID-19 testing reported to county residents on Tuesday, bringing the total number of people diagnosed with the coronavirus to 3,642.

The county’s seven-day positivity rate has been dropping slowly for the past week and seems to be an indication that the post-holiday spike is waning. Cattaraugus County’s positivity rate is slightly higher than Western New York’s rate of 5.4%.

On Tuesday, there were 48 individuals from the county who were hospitalized with COVID-19. There have been 71 deaths from the coronavirus in the county since April 23, 2020.

County health officials are following 414 active cases, 569 contacts of COVID-19 positive individuals and 41 in travelers quarantine.

Sixteen of the new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday were from the southeast corner of the county, which has been hardest hit with 2,124 cases, 58.3% of the total.

The southwest part of the county reported 12 new cases for a total of 553, the northwest had nine new cases for 389 and the Northeast had six new cases for 576.

Twenty-three of the new cases were women, who account for 54.2%, and 20 new cases were men.

Only 43.1% of people testing positive were aware of their contact with someone who had COVID-19.

The percentage of people with symptoms of the coronavirus is now 77.2%.

The 20-29 age group has recorded the highest number of COVID-19 cases, 601, or 16.5% of the total. The other two highest totals are 514, or 14.1% for ages 30-39 and 19 and under, 508 or 13.9%.

Other age groups are: 40-49, 481 or 13.2%; 50-59, 547 or 15%; 60-69, 473 or 13%; 70-79, 284 or 7.8%; 80-89, 169 or 4.6%, and 90 and over, 65 or 1.8%.

Western New York has 314 ICU beds, 39% of which are available, which is the highest of any region in the state.