ERIE COUNTY, N.Y. (WIVB)–Erie County says new numbers show an uptick in younger people now being diagnosed with COVID-19 while older people are seeing a drop in diagnosis.

Executive Mark Poloncarz says we are seeing what he calls a significant increase in new cases of COVID-19 in young people, including as young as infants, in the past three weeks.

Both the county executive and County Health Commissioner Dr. Gale Burstein says this could be due to a number of things.

One issue could be that as places continue to open back up, people are going back to work where they are contracting this disease before bringing it back home to their families.

Poloncarz says it could also be the fact that younger people have a different attitude than older people when it comes to the pandemic.

When asked if these numbers could affect schools opening back up this fall, Poloncarz said the county reports all positive cases back to the state who will ultimately be making the decision when it comes to schools.

The county executive also discussed youth sports, while low to moderate risk sports like baseball and soccer can start back up July 6th, teams are still not allowed to travel out of the area to play.