The number of new daily cases of COVID 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 residents. Since the new year, the risk of contracting the virus in Suffolk has been “extreme” – because new daily cases increase above 75 per 100,000 people – according to metrics published by the Harvard Global Health Institute.
The state of New York as a whole entered the extreme risk category on Thursday, when new daily cases exceeded 75 per 100,000. Until yesterday, that number had risen to 79 per 100 thousand.
The Harvard Institute “strongly recommends” adopting a suppression strategy – which means working to suppress viral spread for 1 new case per 100,000 people, the level at which true containment is possible. The institute says that a suppression strategy where new daily cases are more than 25 per 100,000 people requires requests to stay at home – “the most efficient way to a restored economy without future blocks”.
With the economy still recovering from closing last spring, Governor Andrew Cuomo has indicated no interest in issuing a stay at home request for any part of the state.
A month ago, the state shifted its focus from suppressing infection rates to monitoring hospitalizations, adopting an “increase and flexibility” strategy to adjust the hospital’s capacity in an effort to prevent hospitals from becoming overburdened, according to the governor. .
The 121 cases of Suffolk per 100,000 residents are the fourth highest county in the state of New York, behind Herkimer, Cayuga and Lewis counties, according to data collected and published by the nonprofit risk assessment group, the non-profit group. for-profit COVID Act Now.
In fact, all counties in the state are over 25 cases per level of 100,000, which the Harvard Global Health Institute ranks as the highest (extreme) risk level for infection.
In the last seven days in Suffolk, there were 12,494 new confirmed cases out of 117,363 COVID-19 tests administered – a positive percentage (or positivity) test rate of 10.6%. There were 623 new hospital admissions in Suffolk and 563 discharges.
In Riverhead, there were 257 new confirmed cases in the last seven days, an average of 36.7 new cases per day – and a rate of 105 new cases per 100,000 daily.
The positivity rate for the Riverhead microcluster focus zone test has risen from 11.1% to 12.4% in the past seven days.
This week in Suffolk, COVID-19 hospitalizations, which have been steadily increasing since Thanksgiving Day, surpassed an average of 800 people a day for the first time since early May.
But hospitalizations are increasing at a much slower rate so far this fall and winter than last spring, when they more than doubled in a seven-day period starting on March 31 and an average of 1,384 patients per day in the month of April.
In the past seven days, 104 Suffolk residents have died from the disease caused by the new coronavirus. Fatalities are currently averaging 16 a day on a continuous average of seven days – compared to 2 a day on Thanksgiving Day and 11 a day at Christmas. COVID’s fatalities increased much more quickly last spring, when they rose from a handful each day in March to an average of 39 a day in April.
In New York State, there have been 86,489 new confirmed cases of 1,367,407 tests in the past seven days. The average rate of positivity was 7.8%. There were 6,991 new hospital admissions and 1,164 deaths.
Four cases of the apparently most contagious coronavirus strain in the UK were detected in New York state last week, including one on Long Island, a resident of Massapequa in Nassau County.
The governor announced on Friday the expansion of the state’s vaccination distribution network to help speed up the administration of the COVID-19 vaccine to New Yorkers currently eligible for vaccination.
“As part of this effort, thousands of new suppliers and distribution locations are being identified across the state,” said the governor.
Vaccination so far is available mainly to health professionals in hospitals (Group 1A). As of tomorrow, people in Group 1B – essential workers and New Yorkers aged 75 and over – can make reservations for vaccination, although the consultations they will receive are not several weeks to a few months in the future, the governor said. on Friday, depending on vaccine supplies.
Public health researchers and health officials recommend Suffolk residents to take all possible precautions to avoid exposure.
According to the CDC, this includes:
- Wear secure, multi-layer masks covering your nose and mouth, even when you are six feet away from other people.
- Avoid crowds and poorly ventilated indoor spaces.
- Avoid internal meetings with people outside your home.
- Wash your hands frequently with hot, soapy water for at least 20 seconds.
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