Suffolk has 1st coronavirus case, Nassau confirms 3 more

Suffolk County confirmed its first coronavirus case Sunday and Nassau added three more, hiking its total to seven as infections statewide climbed to 108 and a Lake Success laboratory got federal approval to test for the virus, officials said.

Health officials believe the Suffolk man contracted the virus through community transmission, said County Executive Steve Bellone.

"Suffolk County communicable disease professionals have begun a thorough investigation into the patient's contacts," Bellone said in a statement. "We are continuing to work closely with the New York State Department of Health to ensure a swift and effective investigation. While we continue to do all that we can to avoid a widespread outbreak, we are asking the public to do the same. If you are sick, stay home and contact your primary care physician to avoid spreading any illness to others."

In Nassau, three additional cases of the coronavirus were confirmed Sunday. The fifth and sixth confirmed Nassau cases are connected to the previous four, which stem from a 42-year-old man that a source said lives in Uniondale.

Investigators are trying to determine how the seventh person contracted the virus, according to Nassau County Executive Laura Curran. In that case, a 48-year-old man remained in mandatory quarantine at home Sunday, said Nassau County Department of Health spokeswoman Mary Ellen Laurain. In New York City, officials Sunday said one test came back positive, bringing to 13 the number of coronavirus cases in the city. 

Meanwhile, Northwell Health announced its lab in Lake Success received federal approval Sunday to start testing for the coronavirus. The number of confirmed cases will grow as more tests are completed, officials said.

“How do you contain the spread of the virus — by testing as many people as you can,” Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo told reporters at a news conference after he toured the facility Sunday. “The more you test, the more positives you identify, the more people you can isolate and stop the spread.”

As of Sunday, 47 people in Nassau were on mandatory quarantine and 70 more had voluntary quarantined. 

The Suffolk County Department of Health Services said in a statement Sunday it was monitoring 24 individuals under voluntary home isolation who recently returned from China.

Late Sunday night, Columbia University said on its website that classes would be canceled Monday and Tuesday because someone connected to the campus “has been quarantined as a result of exposure to the coronavirus.”

The website said preparations were being made to “shift to remote classes for the remainder of the week.”

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the latest confirmed case in the city is a person from the Bronx but he did not provide any other details.

De Blasio predicted the city could surpass 100 coronavirus cases in two to three weeks. In response, the city is prohibiting international school trips and nonessential international travel by city workers, adding nurses to schools and offering grants or no-interest loans to small businesses with slumping sales.

The family members of a 33-year-old Uber driver who tested positive and is hospitalized in Far Rockaway remain in isolation but have not displayed symptoms of the virus. De Blasio did not have information on the driver's routes, which were focused on Long Island, and said he had no indication the man’s passengers had been affected.

He advised people who are sick to stay away from work and public events and not ride the subway.

De Blasio said the city will be dealing with the fallout from the virus for the foreseeable future.

“We can handle a lot,” he said, but “we’ll be at this for a while.”

At a community town hall hosted by Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-Garden City) at Oceanside Middle School on Sunday, health officials said they expected more testing to be done this week and that the number of confirmed cases would increase.

“The number of cases I think is going to skyrocket over the next few days, just because of the testing,” said Dr. Sunil Kumar Sood, Northwell Health’s chief of pediatric infectious disease.

Cuomo, who toured the Northwell Health Labs in Lake Success to emphasize the need for additional testing sites, said while many healthy people who are infected with the virus can recover without problems, it can be devastating and potentially deadly for the elderly and people with underlying health conditions.

“We don’t want to have to do massive close downs, massive quarantines and we don’t want members of the vulnerable population getting sick,” Cuomo said.

He urged employers to loosen their sick day policies and allow more people to work from home. People should avoid large gatherings and dense crowds, he added.

Cuomo also suggested commuters use the least crowded cars on subways and on the railroad.

“If you see a packed train car, let it go by,” he said. “Wait for the next train.”

Several hospitals, including NYU Langone, changed their visitor protocols because of the virus. Langone said it would screen visitors for illness and limit the number of people allowed to see pediatric patients to two and adults to one.

Meanwhile, 22 SUNY students who had been studying abroad in Italy are being voluntarily quarantined for 14 days at the Stony Brook Southampton campus as state officials, Stony Brook confirmed in a statement on its website. The students, who arrived on a charted flight late Saturday, are staying in residential buildings that were previously unoccupied, with refrigerators and microwaves in each room. Medical doctors will monitor the students.

Of those students, 19 attend the Fashion Institute of Technology, one attends Stony Brook University, one attends SUNY Plattsburgh and one attends the City University of New York, according to Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman.

Schneiderman was told the students had been screened for the disease, but not tested, and none was showing symptoms.

“They [state officials] are stressing this is a precautionary measure,” he said.

Earlier Sunday, Cuomo said the state's goal is to "avoid the massive disruption of closing everything down for two weeks the way China did, the way Italy is doing," in order to protect vulnerable populations.

"We want to try to contain it, because we don't want to go to these massive quarantines that you're seeing in other countries," Cuomo said on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures."

The governor also said, "At this time, there's no reason to close down mass transit."

He declared a state of emergency on Saturday as the number of coronavirus cases statewide had risen to 89, with most of the positive test results linked to a single Westchester County resident.

Schneiderman said the students are not mandated to stay, but are highly encouraged to do so. He said he wasn't pleased the state chose the campus for student quarantine, but said local officials would continue to monitor the situation.

“I think it’s important that we have the facts and we're making decisions based on facts and not fear,” he said. “I’ve asked the state to provide as much information as they can.”