NY's coronavirus numbers remain at low levels, Cuomo says
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo holds a coronavirus briefing on Monday in New York City. Credit: Office of the Governor / Kevin P. Coughlin
Statewide coronavirus cases remained stable and low, with 116 new cases reported Saturday on Long Island.
The statewide positive testing rate remained at 0.93% out of 74,857 tests, with five new deaths that occurred Friday, according to state data.
The state had 703 new cases, bringing New York’s total number to 420,345. The state’s total death toll is now at 25,195.
Long Island did not report any deaths. Long Island’s positive testing rate registered at 0.9%, a tick lower than 1.0 % the day before.
"Despite increasing infection rates across the country and in our region, we continue to see our numbers hold at low levels, all thanks to the hard work of New Yorkers to change their behavior and our data-driven, phased reopening," Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said in a statement. "While our numbers remain low and steady, this is not the time to get complacent — we must focus on protecting our hard-won progress now.”
The state’s hospitalizations dropped by six to 573, with 84 newly admitted patients Friday, state officials said. The number of ICU patients also dropped by six to 133, and the number of intubated patients on ventilators was down by two to 64.
A total of 73 people were discharged from hospitals, bringing the total number of discharges to 73,609.
Nassau County reported 48 new COVID-19 cases out of 6,525 people tested, putting the percentage of residents testing positive at 0.7%. Nassau County has a total of 43,628 cases, according to county figures.
Nassau hospitals currently have 37 COVID-19 related patients, with nine in ICUs and three on ventilators.
"We have not had a COVID-19 related death in almost two weeks," said County Executive Laura Curran. "Our consistently low hospitalizations and percentage of people testing positive is proof that what we are doing is working. I urge residents to keep up the good work and continue to practice social distancing and wearing masks so we can keep this virus contained."
Suffolk County had 68 people testing positive, for a total of 43,749, according to county figures.
The number of people hospitalized decreased by five to 42. There were nine people in ICUs, a decrease of three.
The county saw 10 people discharged from the hospital, for a total of 5,643 discharges since March 22.
In New York City, there were 326 new cases, for a total of 227,584, according to state figures. The infection rate held steady at 1.1%.
There have been about 350 stops since random checkpoints to encourage a state-ordered quarantine began Wednesday, said Laura Feyer, a spokeswoman for Mayor Bill de Blasio. Locations have varied, she said.
Checkpoints were at the Goethals Bridge, Holland Tunnel and Lincoln Tunnel crossings, according to the city sheriff’s office Twitter account.
The enforcement push is based on a "travel advisory" list issued by the state to limit COVID-19 exposure by asking travelers from states with high levels of infection to isolate themselves for 14 days.
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With John Asbury and Matthew Chayes
Craig Schneider is a Long Island native and Stony Brook University alumnus. He joined Newsday as a general assignment reporter in January 2018 after 20 years at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
