“As the declining COVID-19 numbers in our weekly update show, we are clearly trending in the right direction and doing so quickly.  With Governor Hochul’s announcement today that the mask mandate for indoor businesses is now lifted, there is no public mask mandate in Niagara County as of tomorrow, including all county buildings, except for those under control of the court system. 

The Niagara County Department of Health (NCDOH) announced that free rapid COVID-19 testing will be available for all Niagara County residents. Starting, Wednesday, February 9, 2022, testing will be offered at the Doris W. Jones, Family Resource Center at 3001 9th Street, Niagara Falls, NY 14305. Testing will be available on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Friday from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM.

The Niagara County Department of Health (NCDOH) announced that significant changes have been made to the case investigation and contact tracing for COVID-19. Contact tracers will no longer conduct case investigations or identify close contacts.

“The surge in positive COVID-19 cases brought on by the omicron variant, the changes in testing protocols with the wide distribution of at-home test kits and the need to prioritize our resources in a manner that best serves the public health care needs of Niagara County has led us to make significant changes in our weekly update starting today and going forward. 

• 952 new positive cases 
• Total of 33,197 positives to date (isolations + recoveries + deaths)