Long Island's COVID-19 infection rate ticks up, Gov. Cuomo says
Two people wearing masks walk past stores on North Franklin Street in Hempstead on Friday. Credit: Newsday / Steve Pfost
Long Island's COVID-19 infection rate bumped up Friday as Nassau County added 254 cases and Suffolk added 259, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said Saturday.
As infections spiked around the United States and other countries, the infection rate for Long Island increased Friday to 2.5% from 1.9% on Thursday and 2.0% on Wednesday, according to state figures.
Eighteen people died of COVID-19-related causes in the state on Friday, including one person in Nassau County. The state's number of deaths related to the virus now stands at 25,928.
The governor said the positivity rate in all focus areas under the state's micro-cluster strategy was 4.22%, up from 3.33% the day before. Within the focus areas,13,488 tests were performed, yielding 569 positives.
The rate of infection in areas outside the micro-cluster focus was 2.01%, inching up from 1.84% the previous day. For the entire state, the level of new infection was 2.19%, increasing from 1.99% the day before, according to state figures.
"Cases are increasing across the country and the globe — and there are several warning flags in New York. The challenge for our state has been to manage the increase and try to ensure the spikes in other states don't impact us too much," Cuomo said.
He added, "We manage the increase by deploying the most aggressive testing in the country and our micro-cluster strategy — when we identify a small spread, we increase enforcement and restrictions in a targeted way."
Statewide, the number of people hospitalized increased by 60 to 1,381, the figures said. A total of 308 people were in ICUs, an increase of 23, and the number of people in ICUs on intubation also increased by nine to 138.
A man wearing a mask walks past stores on Fulton Avenue in Hempstead on Friday. Credit: Newsday / Steve Pfost
On Long Island, Nassau has a total number of cases of 51,418 and Suffolk has 50,469, according to state figures. New York City's infection rate Friday was 1.8%, a bit lower than 1.9% the day before. The city had 1,165 new cases on Friday, for a total of 269,828 cases, state figures show.
Nassau has 90 people hospitalized with COVID-19, and an infection rate of 2.4%, said County Executive Laura Curran on Saturday.
"Nassau cannot afford to take its eyes off the coronavirus, even as news of the election continues to captivate our attention," Curran said. "We need to double down on the common-sense health and safety measures that have allowed us to keep COVID-19 in check."
Suffolk has 59 people hospitalized with the virus, an increase of 2, according to county figures. Ten people remained in ICUs, the same number as the previous day.
A total of 2.5% of those tested on Friday in Suffolk tested positive, according to county figures.
"As we head into winter months, it's going to take the work of all New Yorkers to ensure we don't go back to where we were this spring — I understand COVID fatigue is real, but it's on all of us to stay vigilant and wear our masks, wash our hands, remain socially distant and stay New York Tough," Cuomo said.
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.
