Onondaga County confirmed two deaths from the novel coronavirus on Thursday.

Three people in Onondaga County have now died of the virus, which causes COVID-19, a respiratory disease. The county confirmed 301 total cases of COVID-19 as of Thursday. New York state has confirmed 92,381 cases, and 2,373 people have died. 

County Executive Ryan McMahon announced the county’s second death, a woman in her late 60s who had significant underlying health conditions, at a media briefing. The county reported about three hours later that a man in his 80 with underlying health conditions had died, according to Syracuse.com.

“Any of us can catch it, and our immune systems battle it in different ways,” McMahon said at the briefing. “But (for) our community’s most vulnerable, folks with underlying health conditions, this is a fight.” 

Onondaga County will alert the public when a person who tests positive for the virus could have spread it within a community space, McMahon said. An employee at Tops Friendly Markets in Manlius has tested positive for COVID-19, he said. 

McMahon said he does not disapprove of stores asking employees to wear masks, but said that health care workers must have priority access to protective equipment.  

“There’s a lot of things that if we had the resources we would do,” McMahon said. 

A new program will provide hotel lodging to health care workers who need rest or are afraid to return home and potentially spread the virus to their families, McMahon said. The county’s emergency management department will run the program with its hospital system, he said. 

Onondaga County Health Commissioner Indu Gupta encouraged family members and those living in the same house as someone who’s displaying symptoms of COVID-19 to practice social distancing and stay home as best as possible. 

“It’s disappointing to see that in spite of how much we’ve talked about social distancing we still are seeing those similar behaviors which are not good for the public’s health,” Gupta said.

As an economic result of the virus, the county will have to cut back a lot of smaller projects, including those mentioned in his State of the County address, McMahon said.

The county has not made any decisions about extending school closures past April 14, McMahon said. It would be premature to assume that schools might not reopen before the academic year ends, he said.