WAVERLY, N.Y. (WENY) — Early last week, Governor Cuomo's office announced the Village of Waverly, along with other parts of Tioga County entered the yellow zone. Now, the mayor is hoping to turn things around and get the virus under control.

Bars, restaurants and salons have been forced to adapt to a few extra steps in order to keep business going. Since Tioga County is neighboring counties that were already in the yellow zone, Patrick Ayres, Mayor of the Village of Waverly, says the governors announcement didn't come as a surprise.

"Broome County already had yellow zones, Chemung County already had yellow zones, I don't know if any of those areas got in to orange zones, but I knew it was around us. Also we're on the border with Bradford county, we share a common border. I mean the village of Waverly is in New York but we're in the valley with Sayre borough, Athens borough," said Patrick Ayers, Mayor of the Village of Waverly.

 Keeping visitors from other counties out of the village, for the time being, presents a whole new set of problems. Right now, in the rate of infection is 7.32% and while residents may not have to make too many lifestyle changes under the yellow zone, Ayers is worried about what could happen in the future if they aren't able to get the virus under control.

"My biggest concern, one of my major concerns is that we don't bring the positivity rate down, that we get to a different zone, an orange zone or potentially, a red zone and then there are additional restrictions that come in and can be quite onerous for everyone concerned, personally and business wise," Ayers said.

To get the positivity rate down, Ayres is encouraging all residents in Waverly to go out and get tested, regardless of whether or not they have symptoms of COVID-19.

"The way you get out, is that you have testing. That you test a lot of people and that you test a lot of healthy people because if all you're testing is symptomatic or sick people, then what to we expect," Ayers said.

Since the closest testing sites are Sayre, Binghamton and Ithaca, for people in Waverly, getting access to a COVID-19 test can be difficult.

"To obtain a test under normal circumstances is more difficult without having those sites available. Generally you need to be referred or something like that. We need more free, open site testing," Ayers said.

With the Holidays just weeks away, Ayres is worried that small gatherings could raise the rate of infection, pushing the village further away from the green zone. 

"We're getting close, we're getting close to the end, we just need to hang on and just decide, okay, maybe this year we won't have that big gathering. We'll just stay home, it'll just be our immediate family, meaning immediate," Ayers said.

Even if people have smaller gatherings, there is still concern over people traveling out of state for the holidays. Ayres says travel to certain states could lead to a spike in COVID-19 cases.