BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Erie County Health leaders are warning that Western New York is now in a fourth wave of COVID.

The county is currently an area of high transmission, averaging 139 cases per 100,000 people.

And according to an analysis from UB, almost all of the cases are the Delta variant.

However, this wave has risen more slowly than the previous three, which officials attribute to vaccines.

“Vaccinations are key. This is going to be our ticket out of the pandemic eventually. However, until we’re all fully vaccinated, we have to adhere to the non-pharmaceutical interventions which we know are very effective based on science and our own experience here in Erie County,” Health Commissioner Dr. Gale Burstein said.

Health experts are urging people to get vaccinated now, so you can be protected when activities start to move indoors during the fall and winter.