At his daily coronavirus briefing on Saturday, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo spoke about the remaining COVID-19 hot spots in New York City, which included six in the Bronx, three in Brooklyn and one in Queens. Credit: New York Governor Facebook

This story was reported by John Asbury, Catherine Carrera, Michael Gormley, Joan Gralla, James T. Madore and David Olson. It was written by Olson.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo signed a bill Saturday that gives death benefits to government-employed front-line workers who died from COVID-19 during the crisis.

The governor also announced a continued drop in the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations statewide, but amid the optimism, Long Island reached a grim milestone: The number of COVID-19 deaths in Nassau and Suffolk counties passed 4,000, according to the state Health Department.

In signing the benefits bill during his daily coronavirus briefing, Cuomo said, “It is the least we can do to say thank you, and we honor you and we remember you."

The governor, speaking in the Bronx, called them and other front-line workers "modern-day heroes" for showing up and risking their lives during the crisis.

“We say to their families: We thank you, we grieve for your loss, and we will always be there for you the way you were there for us,” Cuomo said.

State AFL-CIO president Mario Cilento said in a statement that Cuomo and legislators provided the families "the line of duty death benefits they so rightly deserve."

The bill applies to the families of state and local government front-line employees who died of COVID-19. Eligible employees include health care workers at public hospitals, police officers and sanitation workers.

The money will be paid through state and local pension systems. Front-line workers who work for private hospitals and businesses are not eligible.

Cuomo said front-line workers such as doctors, bus drivers, delivery workers and pharmacists showed bravery by going to work and risking their health, even as the governor was telling other New Yorkers to stay home.

“People literally gave their lives so others could live,” he said.

Cuomo said the steady decline in the number of New Yorkers dying from COVID-19 over the past several weeks, to 67 on Friday, represents "tremendous progress from where we were.” As recently as May 23, there had been 109 deaths, and there were daily death tolls of nearly 800 in early April. 

The number of new deaths on Long Island also has fallen, but the 16 people who died Friday pushed the total number of fatalities since the health crisis began in March to 4,013, according to a state Health Department tally posted online Saturday.

In Nassau County, 2,121 residents had died of the disease, and in Suffolk County, 1,892 people had perished.

"To all the families who have been impacted by COVID-19, we are with you as you continue to grieve your loss," Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said during his daily coronavirus briefing.

Focusing on 10 'hot spots'

Total hospitalizations statewide fell again, to 3,619 from 3,781, down from a peak of nearly 19,000 in April, although the number of new hospitalizations rose to a three-day rolling average of 178, up from 169. 

Cuomo, who Friday had vowed a “full-court press” in combating the spread of the virus in areas hit hardest by the pandemic, said an additional testing site would open in each of the 10 ZIP codes with the highest percentage of people who test positive.

The “hot spots” are in predominantly low-income and minority neighborhoods in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens, the governor said. In three ZIP codes, all in the Bronx, the infection rate was 50% or higher, compared with 19.9% citywide. 

Testing, he said, would help indicate who is possibly contagious and help prevent them from spreading the virus to others. Cuomo said the state also would ramp up education efforts and provide more masks and hand sanitizer.

“But we have to get deeper also,” he said, announcing that the state will work with New Hyde Park-based Northwell Health to “develop better health care connections in these communities.”

“Where you see a high death rate is where you have people with underlying illnesses,” he said. “If you have diabetes, if you have hypertension, if you are immune-compromised, then you're more likely to die and that raises the question, why didn't we address these health disparities better?”

With New York City on track to begin the first phase of its reopening on June 8, the state is creating an initiative to better coordinate the approach that its 11 public and 100 private hospitals take to the pandemic, Cuomo said.

“We need those private hospitals operating in a way they've never operated before, which is basically managed as one public health system,” he said. 

The state will develop a plan over the next week, he said.

“If we have a problem, we need all of those hospitals to work together, where we can shift patients, we can share resources, that kind of coordination,” he said.

Beaches, parks close early

With sunny skies and temperatures on Long Island in the 70s and 80s Saturday afternoon, the state closed many state parks and beaches to new visitors to keep crowds lower and allow for better social distancing.

Among those closed to new visitors, starting as early as 10:30 a.m.: Caleb Smith State Park, Connetquot State Park, Shadmoor State Park, Bayard Cutting Arboretum, Orient Beach State Park, Planting Fields Arboretum, Hempstead Lake State Park, the Field 10 fishing piers at Jones Beach State Park, Caumsett State Park and Wildwood State Park. Parking Fields 3 and 5 at Robert Moses State Park also closed early.

In Hempstead, Lido West Town Park Beach and Lido Beach Town Park also barred new visitors.

Bellone said the county’s camping reservation system reopened Friday to a “tremendous response” that caused the system to go down briefly. It had closed last week after also being overwhelmed. The county received 4,739 reservations for camping on Friday, he said.

“It shows the demand that we have and the desire for people to get out and enjoy summer,” Bellone said. “Even though we are still grappling with COVID-19, it is very important … that families know that we are going to be able to have a summer here in Suffolk County, and camping is a part of that and beaches are a part of that.”

Other developments

Nationally, food prices jumped 2.6%, the largest monthly increase in 46 years, The Associated Press reported. Prices for meats, poultry, fish and eggs increased the most, rising 4.3%. Analysts caution that meat prices in particular could remain high as slaughterhouses struggle to maintain production levels while implementing procedures intended to keep workers healthy. 

The state Department of Motor Vehicles announced that all state-operated DMV offices, including the ones on Long Island, will on Monday begin to process vehicle registrations and other transactions by mail, and beginning Thursday will start accepting transactions placed in secure drop boxes at each office. All driver's licenses, state identification cards and vehicle registrations that expired beginning March 1 will continue to be extended, as will vehicle inspections that expired March 31 or later.

Cuomo said Saturday that experts will review coronavirus data in the coming days to determine if the Capital Region and Western New York can join five other upstate regions in moving to Phase 2 of reopening, which includes shopping inside retail stores and the return of hair salons and barbershops, and of office-based jobs — all with restrictions. Long Island officials hope the region moves to Phase 2 the week of June 8.

Later Saturday, the state released the latest coronavirus case numbers: 369,660 statewide, up by 1,376, with 40,307 in Nassau, up by 81, and 39,532 in Suffolk, up by 87.

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