Suffolk County is currently monitoring 13 COVID clusters from Thanksgiving or other recent family gatherings, where all or almost all of the people in attendance later tested positive for the virus, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said today.
None of the gatherings violated the state’s limits on size, he said. It’s a reminder of the risks associated with small indoor gatherings, the county executive said.
“Just because you’re in your home with people you trust doesn’t mean the virus can’t spread,” Bellone said. “It is very clearly how it’s spreading.”
One Thanksgiving gathering in Manorville resulted in six positive cases out of the nine people in attendance, he said.
As the virus surges in the community, more people are requiring hospitalization. Suffolk’s hospitalizations are nearing 400 with 67 people in ICU, Bellone said.
An increase in hospitalizations is followed by an increase in deaths, he warned, despite the impacts of new therapeutics.
In Suffolk, there were nearly as many deaths (34) in the first eight days of December as there were in all of November, during which there were 35 COVID-related deaths, Bellone said. The COVID death toll in the first eight days of December was more than the months of August, September and October combined, he said.
“It’s a stark reminder of the dangers this virus poses,” Bellone said.
“Simply wearing a mask and social distancing can save lives,” he said.
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