STEUBEN COUNTY, N.Y. (WENY) -- COVID-19 cases are on the rise in Steuben County. In just the last two weeks, the county has seen an increase in the number of active cases. The positivity rate is also up, as well as the number of hospitalizations. 

The Steuben County Health Department reported 14 new cases on Tuesday. This now brings the number of total active cases to 179, after briefly jumping over 200 on Monday. 

"We were trending much lower and in a very good spot. Again we want the number to be zero. But we were trending in many cases single digit cases a day, our hospitalizations were down to five or less, which was good. But those numbers are ticking back up," said Jack Wheeler, Steuben County Manager. 

The reason why? 

"We're asking ourselves that question. We have the case investigations to look at and we still see a mix of the more obvious types of cases where an individual in someone's household is positive and then other members of that household get it or close contacts, we certainly still have that. But we do have a number of cases that have been reported here in the past 10 days to two weeks where individuals haven't reported any known contacts with any positive individuals. So that's concerning and something that we continue to monitor," said Jack Wheeler, Steuben County Manager. 

Wheeler added, "We don't have the ability or the resources or the laboratory like New York State and Albany does for genetic sequencing of these tests to see if there is any variant here or anything like that. So we just don't know." 

The county also says not as many people are getting vaccinated. 

"The other thing we're seeing frequently is not as high of level of vaccination that public health and our administration would like to see," said Wheeler. 

Roughly 16 percent of the county's population have completed their vaccine series. While roughly, 27 percent have received the first dose. 

"We know out there, that there's individuals who are looking specifically for Johnson and Johnson and we do put in requests to the state for Johnson and Johnson. But there's no guarantee, we essentially get what they give us," said Wheeler.

The county is urging residents to get whatever vaccine is available, and continue to follow all safety guidelines. 

The Steuben County Health Department is also concerned that the number of cases could continue to spike with this week being Spring break and people traveling for vacation.