Nearly 10% of Riverhead Town’s total COVID-19 cases were reported in the past seven days, a troubling sign that the local outbreak is rapidly accelerating.
The number of cases reported week over week is also climbing sharply. In the past seven days, there were 69% more cases reported in Riverhead Town than during the same period a week before.
Documented cases among Riverhead Town residents rose by 115 new cases in the past seven days — to 1,229 people.
Supervisor Yvette Aguiar today called the rise in case numbers “alarming.”
There are currently five COVID positive town employees and two other town workers awaiting test results, Aguiar said.
The seven-day positivity rate in the Riverhead micro-cluster focus zone — which includes most of the Riverhead hamlet in the Town of Riverhead and Riverside and parts of Northampton and Flanders in the Town of Southampton — rose to 3.97% today, according to data provided by the State Health Department.
Peconic Bay Medical Center’s in-patient COVID admissions remain at 35 people with four patients in ICU, PBMC president and CEO Andrew Mitchell said. He said preparations are already underway at the Riverhead hospital to add additional beds for COVID patients to accommodate the surge health officials say is coming through the holiday season.
There were 1,111 additional cases reported in Suffolk County yesterday. The county’s testing positivity rate hit 6%, with a seven-day rolling average of 4.9%.
“To put this in perspective, a month ago, we were averaging below 200 new positive cases in a day,” County Executive Steve Bellone said today.
There are currently 287 people hospitalized for COVID in Suffolk, an increase of 21, with have 50 COVID patients in ICU beds. If hospitalizations continue to increase at the current pace, by Christmas there will be over 1,000 people in hospitals with COVID-19, Bellone said.
“And to put that in perspective, at our peak in the spring, when our region was the epicenter of the virus, we had 1,658 people in our hospitals,” he said.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo said at a press briefing this afternoon Long Island has seen a nearly 213% spike in COVID hospitalizations over the past three weeks, with 188 new hospitalizations in the Long Island region in the past week alone.
Hospitalizations rose to 4,063 people in New York yesterday, with 664 new admissions.
Statewide, the testing positivity rate climbed to 4.84% yesterday. There were 61 new COVID-19 deaths.
Officials urge residents to be aware of the risks of small indoor gatherings and be sure to wear face coverings and maintain social distancing to avoid infection.
The governor said small gatherings are responsible for 65% of new infections.
Katie Morosky contributed reporting.
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