The number of daily new COVID cases in Suffolk County is at a level that makes the outbreak here ‘serious’, according to a risk assessment group affiliated with Georgetown University, Stanford Medicine and Harvard Global Health Institute.
Suffolk currently has 121 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. Since the new year, the risk of contracting the virus in Suffolk has been ‘extreme’ – as daily new cases have risen above 75 per 100,000 people – according to measures published by the Harvard Global Health Institute.
The state of New York as a whole fell into the extreme risk category on Thursday, when daily new cases only exceeded 75 per 100,000. As of yesterday, the number has risen to 79 per 100,000.
The Harvard Institute insists on adopting a suppression strategy – which means suppressing the spread of viruses to 1 new case per 100,000 people, the level at which true restraint is possible. The institute says that a suppression strategy where new daily cases are more than 25 per 100,000 people requires stay-at-home orders – ‘the most effective way to a restored economy without future closures’.
As the economy continued to weaken last spring, government Andrew Cuomo showed no interest in issuing a home order for any part of the state.
A month ago, the state shifted its focus from suppressing infection rates to monitoring hospitalizations, and, according to the governor, adopted a “boom and bust” strategy to adjust hospitals’ capacity, to prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed .
According to Suffolk’s 121 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, the province is the fourth highest in the state of New York, behind the provinces of Herkimer, Cayuga and Lewis, according to the information collected and published by the nonprofit risk assessment group, the nonprofit group COVID Act Now.
In fact, each province in the state is higher than the 25 cases per 100,000 level, which the Harvard Global Health Institute classifies as the highest (extreme) risk level for infection.
In the last seven days in Suffolk, there were 12,494 newly confirmed cases of the 117,363 COVID-19 tests administered – a percentage-positive (or positive) rate of 10.6%. There were 623 new hospital admissions in Suffolk and 563 discharges.
In Riverhead, there have been 257 new confirmed cases in the past seven days, an average of 36.7 new cases per day – and a rate of 105 daily new cases per 100,000.
The Riverhead micro-cluster focus zone has risen from 11.1% to 12.4% over the past seven days.
This week in Suffolk, COVID-19 hospitalizations, which have been steadily rising since Thanksgiving, exceeded an average of 800 people a day for the first time since early May.
Hospitalizations have been increasing so far this autumn and winter at a much slower pace than last year, when they more than doubled in a period of seven days from 31 March and averaged 1,384 patients per day for April.
In the past seven days, 104 residents of Suffolk have died as a result of the disease caused by the new coronavirus. Deaths currently average 16 per day on a seven-day moving average – compared to 2 per day on Thanksgiving and 11 per day on Christmas. COVID deaths have risen much faster this past spring, rising from a handful each day in March to an average of 39 per day in April.
In the state of New York, there were 86,489 newly confirmed cases from 1,367,407 tests in the past seven days. The average positivity rate was 7.8%. There were 6,991 new hospital admissions and 1,164 deaths.
Four cases of the seemingly more contagious coronavirus strain in the UK have been detected in New York State in the past week, including one on Long Island, a resident of Massapequa in Nassau County.
The governor on Friday announced the expansion of the state’s vaccination distribution network to speed up the administration of the COVID-19 vaccine to New York residents who are currently eligible.
“As part of this effort, thousands of new providers and distribution sites across the state are being identified,” the governor said.
Vaccination has so far been mainly available to health workers in hospitals (Group 1A). From tomorrow, people in Group 1B – essential workers and New Yorkers aged 75 and over – can make reservations for vaccination, although the appointments they receive may not be more than a few weeks to a few months in the future. , the governor said Friday, depending on vaccine supplies.
Public health investigators and health officials are urging Suffolk residents to take all possible precautions to prevent exposure.
According to the CDC, this includes:
- Wear a secure mask with more layers, covering both your nose and mouth, even if they are six meters apart.
- Avoid crowds and poorly ventilated indoor spaces.
- Avoid indoor meetings with people outside your own household.
- Wash your hands regularly with warm soap and water for at least 20 seconds.
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