Public health officials and public and private health systems in New York are bracing for the expected increase in COVID-19 cases following Thanksgiving celebrations, travel and holiday shopping.
Officials have been warning for weeks that the holiday would further boost the spread of the highly contagious virus already surging in communities across the state, including Riverhead.
With colder weather driving people indoors, “COVID fatigue” prompting people to be less cautious in social and business interactions and the virus raging out of control in other parts of the country, Gov. Andrew Cuomo this week said the COVID testing percent-positive rate would likely increase to more than 12% in New York State over the course of the holiday season.
“We’re seeing an increase with the numbers across the country and within our own state. It started with the fall, and it’s going to continue and probably worsen in the winter,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said yesterday. “As we go through the holidays and winter months, it’s going to be more imperative than ever for New Yorkers to wear their masks, wash their hands, avoid gatherings large and small, and stay New York Tough,” he said.
The testing percent-positive has already been climbing steadily, even before the impacts of the holiday season come into play. Yesterday, the percent-positive rate statewide was 3.7%. It had remained under 2% from June 2 through Nov. 4, bumping up after Halloween and continuing to rise since then.
The number of new cases reported daily in New York yesterday reached its highest point since early April, at 8,176 new confirmed cases. The number of tests being administered daily in New York has risen more than ten-fold since early April, to a record high of 219,442 tests reported yesterday.
In contrast, when 10,841 New Yorkers tested positive on April 3 — the highest number of new positive cases recorded in New York since the onset of the pandemic — only 23,101 tests were reported that day. The small number of tests administered at that time — there was a shortage of test kits and the supplies needed to process them — combined with testing being made available only to patients who were symptomatic and often limited to those already quite ill, resulted in a very high percent-positive rate, nearly 50%.
Nevertheless, there were 43,505 new confirmed cases in New York in the past seven days, according to state data, bringing the state’s confirmed total to 628,375 as of Nov. 26, a 7.4% increase in the number of new confirmed cases over the seven-day period.
Nationally, confirmed cases rose by 10% — and addition of 1,172,280 cases — during the same seven-day period, to a total of 12.8 million cases since Jan. 21, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC said this week the actual number of coronavirus infections nationwide could actually be eight times higher than the confirmed number, when adjusted for potential false-negative test results, incomplete reporting of cases and asymptomatic or mildly ill individuals who never got tested.
In Suffolk County, there were 3,465 new cases reported in the past seven days, a confirmed case increase of 6.2%, bringing the county’s total to 59,273 as of Nov. 26. Suffolk this week surpassed Nassau in the total number of confirmed cases since the outbreak began on Long Island in March.
There were 72 new confirmed cases in Riverhead Town in the past seven days, a 7% increase, bringing the total to 1,125 cases. The large majority of Riverhead Town’s cases — 686 out of 1,125 are in residents of the Riverhead hamlet.
A portion of the Riverhead hamlet, along with portions of the hamlets of Flanders, Northampton and Riverside in the Town of Southampton, have been designated a COVID-19 micro-cluster zone by state health officials. The Riverhead micro-cluster zone is a yellow precautionary zone. The testing percent-positive rate in the Riverhead micro-cluster zone was 3.84% on a seven-day rolling average — down from 4.85% for the seven-day period from Nov. 15 to Nov. 21.
So far, there are only two designated micro-cluster zones in Suffolk, both on the East End. The other is in Hampton Bays, where the current testing percent-postive on a seven-day rolling average is 6.49%. There are currently 29 designated micro-cluster zones across the state.
COVID-19 hospital admissions continue to rise in New York, where on Thursday there were 3,103 people hospitalized for the disease — 471 of them were new admissions on Thursday. There were 636 patients in intensive care units, 294 of them on ventilators.
In Suffolk, there were 205 COVID patients hospitalized across the county Thursday — 37 were new admissions. There were 45 patients in ICU, 15 on ventilators.
COVID hospitalizations are rising at Peconic Bay Medical Center as well, from 10 inpatient admissions on Nov. 18 to 30 inpatient admissions yesterday.
New York State reported 296 COVID-19 deaths over the past seven days, bringing the total fatalities since March to 26,588.
There were 13 deaths among Suffolk residents over the past seven days. Total fatalities since March were 2,091 as of Thursday, according to data provided by Suffolk County.
Officials are urging residents to get tested, even if they have no symptoms of the disease. Suffolk County has a list of testing locations on its website. Among them are free testing sites operating at Red Creek Park in Hampton Bays and at the county center in Riverside.
The CDC website provides comprehensive guidelines for daily life during the pandemic, including recommended precautions for shopping, socializing, traveling, doctor visits and other activities, as well as how to stay safe at work and school.
“In general, the more closely you interact with others and the longer that interaction, the higher the risk of COVID-19 spread,” the CDC says.
“If you decide to engage in public activities, continue to protect yourself by practicing everyday preventive actions. Keep these items on hand when venturing out: a face mask, tissues, and a hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol, if possible,” the CDC says.
If you have any COVID-19 symptoms, you should stay home, self-isolate and get tested as soon as possible, the CDC says.
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