Long Island lags on key measures, as other NY regions 'poised to reopen'

Five of 10 regions in New York State will partially reopen their economies Friday after a two-month shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, but Long Island is lagging and has the worst rate in the state in one key bench mark the region needs to meet to reopen.

Long Island actually took a step backward on Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s “dashboard” of key bench marks toward reopening, broken down by region.

Nassau and Suffolk counties together were meeting five of seven categories as of Wednesday, but their performance dropped to four out of seven, according to information posted on the state dashboard Thursday.

And Long Island also has the highest rate of people hospitalized for coronavirus in the state — a worse showing than New York City despite it having been the locus of the state's outbreak.

Long Island measured at 2.88 new hospitalizations for every 100,000 residents. New York City’s rate is some ticks below at 2.54 per 100,000 residents. The rate must be two or lower per 100,000 residents for a region to get the greenlight to reopen in phases.

Long Island also is not meeting the threshold of having more than 30% of hospital beds available should the virus see a resurgence. And the region did not meet the requirement of a 14-day decline in hospital deaths due to the COVID-19 virus.

The five regions that cannot reopen include the downstate area, the Albany area, and the Buffalo area in western New York. New York City also has only met four of seven bench marks.

Nassau County Executive Laura Curran still sounded an optimistic note after the region slipped back on the state's metrics.

“While there will always be daily fluctuations in the data, both Nassau County and the Long Island region’s overall trajectory continue to head in the right direction," she said in a statement. "Nassau County saw almost a straight month of declining hospitalization rates before today, so we remain optimistic as we continue our downward descent to reopening.”

At his daily news conference, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said, "We are not there yet." Bellone said new hospitalizations were down by 10, to 575 patients, while the Intensive Care Unit saw a decrease of 31 total admissions.

In total, Suffolk hospitals have a 69% percent occupancy, while ICU beds are at 67% — both below the metrics to allow the region to reopen, Bellone said.

Still, another 239 Suffolk residents tested positive for the virus Wednesday, for a total of 37,544 since the pandemic began, according to state figures released Thursday. Nassau reported 156 new cases, for a total of 38,743.

“We are getting closer and closer to hitting the metrics,” Bellone said, noting that just over 30% of county residents who are tested are confirmed positive for COVID-19.

Suffolk and Nassau are considered one region when it comes to the reopening criteria.

New York City reported 1,295 new cases, for a total of 188,545. New York State as a whole reported 2,390 new cases, for a total of 343,051.

At his daily coronavirus news briefing from Syracuse, Cuomo said "all the arrows are pointed in the right direction" toward a gradual reopening of the New York economy, but cautioned the public to "not underestimate this virus" as cases of a syndrome affecting minors and young adults continue to emerge.

Phase One of reopening will permit construction, manufacturing and retail curbside pickup. It also will allow forestry and fishing, along with some outdoor sports and activities, including tennis and drive-in movies. “We have certain regions … poised to reopen tomorrow” Cuomo said Thursday, referring to northern parts of the state, but for Long Island and New York City, the data “does not suggest" an immediate reopening.

The state has now identified up to 110 cases of an inflammatory syndrome found in children, teenagers and young adults who either have the COVID-19 virus or have been exposed to it, causing illness by damaging blood vessels and other organs. Many of the patients have landed in intensive care units. The illness has killed at least two children and an 18-year-old girl, who was from Suffolk.

Curran said Nassau County continued to see an overall substantial drop in the number of coronavirus patients in its hospitals.

There are currently 712 COVID-19 patients, compared to a peak of more than 2,400, she said.

There appears to be evidence that the rate of infection is slowing on Long Island, she said. Only 6.4% of those tested for the coronavirus Wednesday were positive, compared with 55% at the surge of the outbreak.

“That’s the lowest we’ve seen so far — 6.4 percent,” Curran said. “This also tells us it’s time to expand testing to make sure we are reaching everyone with these tests.”

Overall, hospitalizations due to the coronavirus continued to decline across the state, with intubations for people in respiratory distress also falling, and deaths slowly declining, so that as Cuomo put it, New York is "back to where we were before we started this horrific situation."

The state recorded 157 deaths in hospitals and nursing homes Wednesday, the last full day for which figures were available. That was a decrease from the previous day, and the fourth consecutive day in which daily deaths hovered below 200, well below the peak of nearly 800 in early April.

Under the same roof

Cuomo said that with most businesses, all schools and much of society shut down, officials are seeing a growing source of new cases.

“What we are seeing now with a lot of the new cases, they’re coming from home spread,” he said “Close down businesses, close down schools, etc. So where is it now communicating and growing? In the home environment.”

He noted that he has seen this among his own relatives, starting with his brother, CNN host Chris Cuomo.

“My brother Chris had the virus. His wife got the virus, probably from Chris, although he denies it. Then his son got the virus. Why? Because they’re all in the same place,” the governor said.

In this region, Northwell Health on Thursday said it has crossed a milestone in its COVID-19 patient count, as the number has dipped below 1,000 for the first time since March.

The health system said it has 986 COVID-19 patients at its 19 hospitals, the lowest since it had 838 on March 24. 

A cautious return

During a Newsday webinar Thursday, Dr. Elliott Bennett-Guerrero, vice chair of clinical research in the anesthesiology department of the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University, said the public needs to steel themselves for the long term, in which parts of the economy will reopen but life cannot return to what it was before the pandemic.

“It’s really, really exhausting to live like this,” he said. “But I think that the end is not in sight right now. I think that we’re going to need to be vigilant, be tough.”

When businesses and other parts of society reopen, there should be widespread coronavirus testing, and people need to “make sure that they’re wearing masks, that they’re washing their hands, that they’re protecting themselves but also not infecting others,” he said.