County Executive Steve Bellone (D) said he is looking forward to getting a haircut tomorrow, as the county moves into Phase Two of its reopening.
“I have not seen so many people excited about the prospect of getting a haircut or going to the salon gas I have seen over the last week or so,” Bellone said on his daily call with reporters.
In addition to hair salons, car sales, outdoor dining and retail services can restart as the county’s COVID-19 numbers continue to move in the right direction, despite the possibility of an increase in infections amid the approximately 100 protests over the past week and a half in response to the killing of Minneapolis resident George Floyd by a police officer.
Bellone was grateful for the peaceful way protestors have expressed their constitutionally guaranteed First Amendment right to express themselves. He also praised the Suffolk County Police Department, including Commissioner Geraldine Hart and Chief Stuart Cameron as well as the men and women of the police force for what he called “improving relations” with the community which have enabled them to keep the peace despite hostile events in many urban areas.
The protests have started a national dialogue which has included a discussion about defunding the police, effectively remodeling the police department so that it focuses on crime while creating other bureaus to handle mentally ill people or face drug addicts. Bellone said he does not support such an initiative, which “doesn’t make any sense.”
He appreciated the work police officers do to fight crime and to investigate various levels of assault and murder.
As the protests continue, Bellone remained confident that the testing and contact tracing in place would enable the county, which has been at the epicenter of the pandemic, would allow the county to respond to any future outbreaks.
Viral Numbers
Over the last day, an additional 49 people have tested positive for COVID-19, which raises the total to 40,426. The number of people who have tested positive for the antibody stands at 15,856.
As of last week, the rate of transmission for the virus on Long Island was between 0.6 and 0.9. A figure above 1 raises the possibility of the spread of the virus.
Hospitalizations declined by three for the day ending on June 7 to 155 people. The number of people in Intensive Care Unit beds also declined by three to 47.
Residents battling COVID-19 constitute 63 percent of hospital beds overall in the county and 53 percent in the ICU.
Over the last day, an additional 10 people have been discharged from county hospitals.
An additional four people died from complications related to COVID-19 over the last day. The death toll stands at 1,939.
Starting today, Bellone announced a Suffolk Cares program, which will provide food to those in need. Residents can call 311 from Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Eligible residents will receive a box of nonperishable food within 24 to 30 hours. Residents who call on Friday will receive food on Monday.
In what Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone (D) called a “bit of a milestone,” the number of people who have been hospitalized with COVID-19 has fallen below 200.2
In the day ending June 6, 21 residents left the hospital, bringing the total to 179.
At its peak, the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in April was 1,658, which means that the numbers have fallen by 89 percent amid the worst strain of the pandemic.
“That is great news for us,” Bellone said on his daily conference call with reporters. “We’re looking to see that number continue to decline as we move through the month of June.”
The number of people in Intensive Care Unit beds with COVID-19 also declined by 3 to 50.
Hospital bed use, meanwhile, is below the targeted 70 percent for coronavirus patients. Overall, the residents with the virus represent 64 percent of the total beds, while they account for 58 percent of the ICU beds.
In the last day, the number of people discharged from the hospital was 30, which is above the approximate 10 percent of the total for the last month.
The number of people who have tested positive for the virus was 51, with the total now at 40,329. The number of people who have tested positive from the antibody stands at 15,441.
With beach weather arriving today, Smithpoint and Cupsogue beaches both closed early in the afternoon. The county closed both beaches and provided signs leading up to the beach, while alerting people on social media that the facilities reached their maximum of 50 percent capacity.
While the number of deaths per day slowed over the last few days, with one person dying in the day ending on Thursday, two on Friday and five yesterday, the number of families and friends mourning losses climbed by eight to 1931.
A person reading a name per second for each victim would need over 32 minutes to go through the names of people whose lives the virus extinguished during the last few months.
Bellone offered his thoughts and prayers to the families who have suffered a loss, while he reiterated his hope that the number would of deaths from the virus would fall to zero soon.
The H. Lee Dennison Building in Hauppauge. Photo by Rita J. Egan
As the economic toll from the lockdown during the virus becomes clearer, County Executive Steve Bellone (D) has asked department heads to come up with 5 percent cuts in their discretionary spending, which would trim $60 million from the budget.
Those departments include the Health Department, the Department of Public Works, Real Estate, Parks, the Budget Office and the Office of Aging.
“Earlier today, I directed the departments under the control of the county executive’s office to identify potential cuts in preparation for the budget that we will be working on for 2021,” Bellone said on his daily conference call with reporters.
As for the spread of the virus, Bellone said he is concerned about any increase in viral transmission during the numerous protests in response to the killing of Minneapolis resident George Floyd, who died when a former police officer, who was now charged with his murder, kneeled on his neck while he was handcuffed for close to nine minutes.
“Gatherings of this size and proximity is a concern,” Bellone said. The county executive said the transmission of the coronavirus could become evident over the next week.
As of now, the county has excess capacity at its testing sites, including in hotspot areas.
Separately, Bellone and Legislator Bridget Fleming (D-Sag Harbor) will host a town hall tonight at 6:30 p.m. to discuss testing and contact tracing. Interested residents can tune in through facebook.com/SteveBellone.
Viral Numbers
Over the last 24 hours, Suffolk County has had the smallest increase in deaths due to complications related to COVID-19, with one additional person dying. The current total is 1,916.
“Every day, I’m hoping to see that number get down to zero,” Bellone said. “We haven’t been down to [as low as one death] since the third week in March.”
The number of people infected with the virus each day continues to hover below 100. Over the last day, 91 people tested positive, raising the total in Suffolk County to 40,153. The number of residents who tested positive for the antibody was 14,778.
Hospitalizations, meanwhile, decreased by 11 to 225, with those in Intensive Care Unit beds declining by five to 56.
An additional 20 people were discharged from hospitals in Suffolk County.
“Army” of People Work to Save Life of Sound Beach Man
Sound Beach resident Jim Kennedy, right, and his wife Trish. Jim’s life was saved thanks to scores of people, from the samaritan who performed CPR to the doctors at Stony Brook University Hospital. Photo from Trish Kennedy
What was just a day of golfing with his two sons turned into a life or death situation for one Miller Place School District athletic director and another area resident. It became a day where scores of people, both medical and nonmedical alike, worked to save a man’s life and return him to his family, alive and with his full faculties.
The Kennedy family said they would have lost their father and husband if it weren’t for Pietrie and the other medical staff that saved his life. Photo from Trish Kennedy
It was a bright sunny day the Friday before Memorial Day weekend, May 22. Ron Petrie, of Sound Beach, was out with his two sons Michael and Matthew for a day of golf at the Rolling Oaks Golf Course in Rocky Point. Being it was a popular day for some socially distanced sports at the course, the trio was paired up with fellow Sound Beach resident Jim Kennedy. They were strangers, but they got to talking as they moved languidly across the greens. Petrie’s sons were still relatively new to golf and were taking it slow to learn more of the ropes.
Petrie said he could tell that the new acquaintance loved his wife and two daughters just by the way he talked of them and how one of his daughters just recently graduated from college.
Then at the 8th hole, Petrie turned around, and said he saw Kennedy a few yards behind them. The man had fallen face down in the fairway. He didn’t seem responsive.
“The initial thing is just to figure out what was going on,” Petrie said, remembering the events of a few weeks ago. “It was kind of a sense of we’ve got to figure out what’s going on … It was definitely unnerving.”
Petrie got to the ground and rolled Kennedy over onto his back. He shook him, shouted his name, but there was no response. He checked everywhere, from his carotid to his brachial arteries for a pulse, but could not find it. The man was in agonal breathing, as if he was gasping for air, whenever the athletic director moved or shifted him. Though Petrie didn’t know it, the man was having a heart attack, and a severe one at that.
He told one of his sons to call 911, then that they should clear the area of any kinds of obstructions like golf clubs and bags and stand at the top of a nearby hill to flag down the emergency service vehicles that came by. Despite the threat of the COVID-19 virus, the athletic director began compressions and continued it for about five minutes until emergency responders arrived.
It’s something that as the head of athletics, as well as health and physical education, is kept up to date with the latest training every year. He fell into the steps of compressions. He saw the man had lost all control of bodily function and fluid. He had already vomited and he decided to focus on what he could control, that being pumping Kennedy’s heart for him.
“I coached for 25 years, I’ve gone through every gamut of CPR that it seems every two years they’re changing,” Petrie said. “The latest protocols are when in doubt, hands only, breaths are secondary.”
Medical professionals would learn Petrie’s actions most certainly saved the man’s life, and likely helped preserve the man in what is the most consequential time in a heart attack, where oxygen no longer is being pumped up to the brain.
Speaking many days after his time in the hospital, as he continues his recovery day by day, Kennedy said he remembers very little of what he was doing before he collapsed, and practically nothing until he found he was lying in a bed at Stony Brook University Hospital. He learned later his heart attack, caused by the complete blockage of the left anterior descending artery, is sometimes called the widow maker, as that specific artery provides blood into the heart, allowing it to function properly.
EMTs on the scene put him on a machine to do compressions and managed to get a weak pulse back in Kennedy, about 15 minutes after he went down. The ambulance team decided to take Kennedy to Stony Brook University Hospital’s cardiac department, where nurses and doctors would spend nearly the next nine hours in battle over the man’s life.
Kennedy’s sister, Kathleen Taibi, just happens to work as a nurse practitioner at the Stony Brook cardiac department. Her husband, Dr. William Taibi was Kennedy’s physician before he retired from his own practice in 2016. The duo received the call of Kennedy’s circumstances from their house upstate. They rushed down to Stony Brook, who let the Taibis and Kennedy’s wife, Trish, into the normally restricted lab, as many there thought it could have potentially been the husband’s final moments.
Doctors in the catheterization lab put two stents in his artery to open the worst of the blockages. After that though, Kennedy suffered two more cardiac arrests after he was put into the coronary care unit. An army of staff “worked on him and worked on him and worked on him,” William Taibi said. Medical professionals managed to stabilize him during the second round of catheterization.
The doctors put the man in an induced coma for several days, using an intentional cooling of the body to minimize the amount of oxygen the brain and body need. When he was warmed and awoke that following Monday, doctors and family were relieved to find he did not seem to have any damage in brain function. In just a little over a week he was released from the hospital.
“He came out of it miraculously,” Taibi said. “There were all sorts of miraculous events … if you’re looking for a hero story, it’s [Petrie and his sons], they performed CPR on him in the time of COVID. They were able to give him those first five minutes, that’s probably why he has his brain function today.”
Despite having never really met each other until that day on the golf course, it just so happens that both men were connected through the school district. Justine Scutaro, who teaches in the district and is also the girls volleyball coach, is the goddaughter to Kennedy.
“I’m just happy the family still has him in their lives,” Petrie said.
Kennedy, who works as a corrections officer for Suffolk County, remembers very little of events, only really up until the Wednesday after Memorial Day.
“I’m feeling a little better every day — when I came home everybody was really happy to see me upright and able to walk.” he said “I’ll forever be indebted to Ron.”
Trish Kennedy said Petrie “is our hero — performing CPR on a total stranger — especially during this pandemic.” She added that the work of everyone, from the athletic director to the people in the ambulance to the men and women in the hospital, helped save her husband’s life.
“Ron not only saved my husband, he saved [my daughters’] Kimberly and Kaitlyn’s dad,” she said.
Petrie said CPR is taught during the first quarter of health classes every year. Students wonder aloud why they have to learn the skill or when they will have to use it.
“We got him to where he needed to be,” he said. “To think his family will have the opportunity to be together, to know they will still have that opportunity, is a huge relief.”
The story printed in the June 4 issue of the Village Beacon Record incorrectly spelled Petrie’s name. This version corrects that error.
Hundreds of protesters stand at the corner of Routes 112 and 347 in Port Jefferson Station Monday, June 1 to protest police violence, especially against people of color. Photo by Kyle Barr
In response to the ongoing unrest in the country caused by the murder of Minneapolis resident George Floyd by a former police officer who has now been charged with second-degree murder, Suffolk County will field hate or bias crime calls through its 311 number.
Starting today, residents can call 311 to address concerns about bias or hate crimes that they are subjected to or that they witness.
“Hate, bias, bigotry and discrimination have no safe haven in Suffolk County,” County Executive Steve Bellone (D) said on his daily conference call with reporters. Operators will be ready to provide information or transfer callers to the Human Rights Commission, as needed.
At protests around the county, which included seven such gatherings yesterday in Suffolk, residents are expressing concerns about hate crimes and bias, Bellone said.
The county executive continued to show an appreciation for the way demonstrators behaved during their protests and the ongoing protection and surveillance from police.
“The demonstrations we have seen have been peaceful,” Bellone said. “They represent a contrast with events that have transpired in other communities in our country. That is a credit to the people demonstrating and to the Suffolk County Police Department.”
Amid the economic devastation from the lockdown, Bellone commissioned a financial report that he presented to various public sector unions earlier today. The report anticipates a revenue shortfall of between $1.1 billion and $1.3 billion over the next two years.
Bellone shared with those unions his hope that federal representatives, including Sen. Charles Schumer (D) and Lee Zeldin (R-NY-1) will continue to support the county and will endorse financial assistance amid the financial devastation caused by the virus.
Bellone didn’t offer the unions any specific assurances, saying that he wanted to give them the foundation of the financial issues the county was facing.
Meanwhile, outdoor seating at restaurants will be allowed throughout the state as each region reaches phase two of its reopening. At the latest, Suffolk County could enter that phase next Wednesday.
SC Taskforce Worst Case Scenario Projects $590 Mln Revenue Shortfall for 2020
None of the choices is particularly appealing, but V is certainly better than W and U.
A COVID-19 Fiscal Impact Task Force report projected a range of economic scenarios for the county, depending on the impact of the virus later this year. In a “V” case, the economy rebounds quickly and continues to climb.
A “W” scenario, on the other hand, recovers, then stumbles amid a second wave of the virus that doesn’t require a lockdown, and then stages another recovery.
The worst-case scenario, however, is the “U,” in which a second wave presents enough of a recurring public health crisis that the economy recovers far more slowly.
The three possibilities will likely dictate the extent of the revenue shortfall over the next three years.
About $329 million of the overall revenue shortfalls come from actual declines in sales tax collection so far in 2020. Additionally, the task force, which included Emily Youssouf, Larian Angelo, Michael Kelly and Nathan Leventhal, anticipates a 4.9 percent shortfall in property tax collections, which translates into a reduction in collections of $35 million.
The group also projected a $30 million revenue shortfall from OTB/ casino and motel/ hotel taxes.
The range of revenue shortfalls through 2022 are from $1.136 billion to $1.518 billion. The biggest single-year gap between projected revenue and actual revenue would be in the “U” scenario for this year, for which the county would come up $590 million short.
The task force concluded that the current economic outlook requires a swift and dramatic response to prevent an economic disaster.
“Even the most optimistic scenario which the task force has examined will place enormous pressure on the ability of the county to maintain an acceptable level of government service which the County’s residents have every right to expect,” the group warned in its conclusions.
Viral Numbers
The number of residents who tested positive for the virus was 82, raising the total with confirmed cases of COVID-19 to 40,062. With 4,840 tests, that represents a 1.7% percent positive rate among those tested, which is well below the rate for positive tests in April.
The number of people who are hospitalized with COVID-19 declined by 11 to 236 as of the 24 hours ending on June 1. The number of people in Intensive Care Unit beds also fell by six to 61.
The percentage of people in hospital beds with COVID-19 was 63 percent, while the percentage in the ICU was 52 percent, both of which provide the kind of flexibility in the health care system the state hoped to provide.
Over the last day, another 11 people left the hospital. Six people have died over the last day due to complications related to the coronavirus, raising that enormous human toll to 1,915.
Studies show that modest wine consumption may reduce cardiovascular risks. METRO photo
By David Dunaief, M.D.
Dr. David Dunaief
By now, we have all likely heard that soda – with 39 grams of sugar per 12-ounce can – is associated with an increased risk of diabetes. Bur did you know that wine has a very low amount of sugar: about 1.2 grams of sugar in a five-ounce serving? Even more surprising, it may have benefits in reducing complications associated with diabetes.
Why is this important? The current rate of diabetes among the U.S. adult population is 12.2 percent, while another 84 million U.S. adults have prediabetes (HbA1C of 5.7-6.4 percent) (1).
For those with diabetes, cardiovascular risk and severity may not be equal between the sexes. In two trials, women with type 2 diabetes had greater cardiovascular risk than men. In one retrospective study, women with diabetes were hospitalized due to heart attacks at a more significant rate than men, though both had substantial increases in risk, 162 percent and 96 percent, respectively (2).
What may reduce risks of disease and/or complications? Fortunately, we are not without options. These include timing of blood pressure medications, lifestyle modifications (diet and exercise) and, yes, wine.
Diet vs. metformin for prevention
All too often in the medical community, we are guilty of reaching for drugs and either overlooking lifestyle modifications or expecting that patients will fail with them. This is not only disappointing, but it is a disservice; lifestyle changes may be more effective in preventing this disease. In a head-to-head comparison study (Diabetes Prevention Program), diet plus exercise bests metformin for diabetes prevention (3). This study was performed over 15 years of duration in 2,776 participants who were at high risk for diabetes because they were overweight or obese and had elevated sugars.
There were three groups in the study: those receiving a low-fat, low-calorie diet with 15 minutes of moderate cardiovascular exercise; those taking metformin 875 mg twice a day; and a placebo group. Diet and exercise reduced the risk of diabetes by 27 percent, while metformin reduced it by 18 percent over the placebo, both reaching statistical significance. Note that, while these are impressive results that speak to the use of lifestyle modification and to metformin, this is not an optimal diabetes diet.
I’ll drink to that!
Alcohol in general has mixed results. Wine is no exception. However, the CASCADE trial, a randomized controlled trial, considered the gold standard of studies, shows wine may have heart benefits in well-controlled patients with type 2 diabetes by altering the lipid (cholesterol) profile (4).
Patients were randomized into three groups, each receiving a drink with dinner nightly; one group received five ounces of red wine, another five ounces of white wine, and the control group drank five ounces of water. Those who drank the red wine saw a significant increase in their “good cholesterol” HDL levels, an increase in apolipoprotein A1 (the primary component in HDL) and a decrease in the ratio of total cholesterol-to-HDL levels compared to the water-drinking control arm. In other words, there were significant beneficial cardiometabolic changes.
White wine also had beneficial cardiometabolic effects, but not as great as red wine. However, white wine did improve glycemic (sugar) control significantly compared to water, whereas red wine did not. Also, slow metabolizers of alcohol in a combined red and white wine group analysis had better glycemic control than those who drank water. This study had a two-year duration and involved 224 patients. All participants were instructed to follow a Mediterranean-type diet.
Does this mean diabetes patients should start drinking wine? Not necessarily, because this is a small, though well-designed, study. Wine does have calories, and these were also well-controlled type 2 diabetes patients who generally were nondrinkers.
Blood pressure medications’ surprising results
Interestingly, taking blood pressure medications at night has an odd benefit, lowering the risk of diabetes (5). In a study, there was a 57 percent reduction in the risk of developing diabetes in those who took blood pressure medications at night rather than in the morning.
It seems that controlling sleep-time blood pressure is more predictive of risk for diabetes than morning or 48-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring. This study had a long duration of almost six years with about 2,000 participants.
The blood pressure medications used in the trial were ACE inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) and beta blockers. The first two medications have their effect on the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) of the kidneys. According to the researchers, the drugs that blocked RAAS in the kidneys had the most powerful effect on preventing diabetes. Furthermore, when sleep systolic (top number) blood pressure was elevated one standard deviation above the mean, there was a 30 percent increased risk of type 2 diabetes. Interestingly, the RAAS-blocking drugs are the same drugs that protect kidney function when patients have diabetes.
We need to reverse the trend toward higher diabetes prevalence. Diet and exercise are the first line for prevention. Even a good, but nonideal, diet had better results, in comparison to medication. A modest amount of wine, especially red, may have effects that reduce cardiovascular risk. Blood pressure medications taken at night, especially those that block RAAS in the kidneys, may help significantly to prevent diabetes.
References:
(1) cdc.gov. (4) Journal of Diabetes and Its Complications 2015;29(5):713-717. (3) Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol. Online Sept. 11, 2015. (4) Ann Intern Med. 2015;163(8):569-579. (5) Diabetologia. Online Sept. 23, 2015.
Dr. David Dunaief is a speaker, author and local lifestyle medicine physician focusing on the integration of medicine, nutrition, fitness and stress management. For further information, visit www.medicalcompassmd.com.
Suffolk County has a tough task in digging out of its enormous financial hole.
A group of independent and municipal financial experts completed their analysis of the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on the economy and presented it to County Executive Steve Bellone (D) last night.
Over the next two and a half years, the county is facing a shortfall that is anywhere from $1.1 billion to $1.5 billion, which is three times the budget deficit the county faced coming out of the financial crisis of the last decade.
“This is a budget crisis that is greater than this county has ever seen before,” Bellone said on his daily conference call with reporters. “This report outlines it well. We have a long road ahead.”
Bellone is sending this report to the entire congressional delegation so they can understand the financial emergency created by the public health crisis.
“This is a crisis that’s beyond what a local government has the capacity to deal with on a local level,” Bellone said. “If ever there was a time that a local community needed their federal representatives to deliver for them, that moment is now.”
After residents did as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the federal government instructed, by staying at home, not going to work and limiting their activities over the last few months, Suffolk County residents need the federal government to say, “Yes, we have your back,” Bellone said.
The range of estimates for the shortfall comes from the uncertainty about how the virus will affect the county for the remainder of this year. On the lower end, which is still an enormous financial challenge, the economy remains open. In a second scenario, where a second wave of the virus hits in the fall, potentially concomitant with the appearance of the flu, the county needs to enact some economic restrictions.
In the third scenario, the spread of the virus is so problematic that it forces another lockdown, which would cause the shortfall to balloon to $1.5 billion.
No matter how the virus affects the county later this year, however, this has a “cataclysmic financial impact,” Bellone said. “This is not something we can get through alone. We need that support.”
The county executive said he plans to meet with employee unions, including those that represent police, nurses and emergency workers, to have some tough conversations.
These people are out there “trying to keep the public safe and to prevent a second wave,” Bellone said. “These are tough conversations only because these are extraordinarily difficult challenges.” It’s not something they should have to think about.”
Ultimately, Bellone said he believes the federal government will step up to the challenge created by the public health crisis and the economic damage it wrought.
“I’m confident our federal government will deliver and will do what needs to be done,” Bellone said.
As for the ongoing protests, including a demonstration in Shirley yesterday, Bellone remained appreciative of the peaceful and constitutionally protected way demonstrators expressed themselves.
When the demonstrators marched along William Floyd Parkway, the police “worked to deescalate a situation that could have grown worse,” Bellone said.
Viral Numbers
In the last day, the number of people who died from the virus was three, bringing the total to 1,909.
Those deaths, horrific as they are for each person who died and for the families and friends who lost a loved one, are the lowest they’ve been since March.
“If there’s anything positive today in being able to talk about those numbers” it’s that the death toll is lower than it’s been since the beginning of the crisis, Bellone said.
In the 24 hours ending on May 31, the number of residents hospitalized with COVID-19 dropped by six to 247. The number of people in Intensive Care Unit beds remained unchanged at 67.
People with COVID-19 accounted for 68 percent of bed use, while residents with COVID-19 accounted for 54 percent of ICU bed use, which are each below the target 70 percent figure that was necessary for Phase 1 of reopening.
The number of positive tests increased by 275 to 39,980. That number, however, includes 200 people who had not been reported earlier, which puts the number of new infections closer to the county’s daily tally, which has been tracking below 100.
The number of people who have tested positive for the virus on an antibody test has increased to 14,222.
As for supplies, the county distributed 22,000 pieces of personal protective equipment over the last day, raising that total above 5.8 million.
Today, the county received 50,000 surgical masks from the Taiwanese government, which had shipped them to New York City last week and were delivered to Fire, Rescue and Emergency Services today.
As a part of a drive-in movie series, Smith Point County Beach will show the movie “Jaws” on June 20, 45 years after the Steven Spielberg-directed film terrified theater goers throughout a country a year removed from a gas crisis that appears tame by comparison to the confluence of today’s challenges.
“Hopefully that will be an experience people will enjoy with their families,” County Executive Steve Bellone (D) said on his daily conference call with reporters. “Hopefully, they will enjoy it in a safe way.”
Suffolk County is approaching the end of its first full week in Phase One of an economic reopening, even as emotions run high in the county, the country and the world after the killing of George Floyd by a now-fired Minneapolis police officer who is now facing murder charges.
Group gatherings, even peaceful protests, themselves pose a health risk to attendees as researchers continue to try to develop a vaccine for a virus that threatens the health and lives of residents, particularly those with underlying medical conditions.
“We are always going to be concerned with people coming together in large gatherings, where they are not practicing social distancing,” Bellone said. “We want people to protest and express their First Amendment rights, but we want to do it safely.”
The county executive again thanked the community for peaceful expressions throughout the efforts to restart the economy and as protests in urban areas have, at times, led to violent confrontations with police and to rioting and looting.
Bellone said the Suffolk County Police Department is taking the approach that the officers are a part of the community and are not just in place to restrict or police others.
“When people are out there protesting because they have a message they want to get across, ‘We are there to make sure they are safe,’” Bellone said.
While officials remain concerned about the possibility of larger gatherings leading to resurgence of the virus after hard-won gains during the deadly month of April, they are also willing to change their guidance if such gatherings don’t lead to an increase in infections or put a strain on the recovering health care system.
The county can look at these gatherings and see how they affect public health, Bellone said. “We can take something away from that,” he said.
Still, the county executive said he urges residents not to become too cavalier about following rules that have led to an improvement in the overall health of the county, albeit at the cost of a slowed economy and an increase in unemployment.
“After being cooped up for so long” with all the devastation from the effort to flatten the curve and save people’s lives, residents need to think about “how to prevent sliding back in any way,” Bellone urged. “If people continue to be smart and exercise caution, we can reopen our economy safely. We need the public to continue to be smart.”
Viral Figures
The number of new positive tests for COVID-19 was 62, bringing the total to 39,705. That doesn’t include the 14,138 people who have tested positive for the antibody.
The number of people in the hospital with the virus, a figure no one in the health care system over the course of the year is likely to ever take for granted, declined by 16 to 253.
The number of people in the Intensive Care Unit also declined seven to 67.
The percentage of hospital beds and ICU beds with COVID-19 patients, meanwhile, was at 62 and 63, respectively, which are well below the original target of 70 percent or lower.
Another 25 people were discharged from the hospital over the last day.
The number of people who died from complications related to COVID-19 climbed by five to 1,906.
The county distributed another 24,000 pieces of personal protective equipment over the last day. That total has reached over 5.7 million since the pandemic reached the shores of Long Island.
Stony Brook Village restaurants, shops, community residents and others throughout Long Island are continuing in their efforts to support the hometown heroes at Stony Brook University Hospital during this ongoing pandemic.
Three Village Inn/Lessing’s, Fratelli’s, Crazy Beans and Sweet Mama’s have delivered over 11,000 meals to these dedicated medical professionals, and some of the restaurants are donating extra meals with deliveries.
Other participating shops in the village include The Crushed Olive, Village Coffee Market, Chocolate Works, Premiere Pastry, Brew Cheese and Penny’s Car Care who have delivered a variety of snacks, cheeses, pastries, cookies, drinks and much more.
Donations have also been received from private citizens throughout towns in Nassau and Suffolk County as well as out of state.
If you would like to help show your support for healthcare professionals, you can donate to Stony Brook eateries or call the Ward Melville Heritage Organization at 631-751-2244. Your donation is fully tax deductible to the extent allowed by law and every dollar will go to this cause.
Local students from the Three Village area protest police misconduct in the wake of the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Photo by Myrna Gordon
Amid the confluence of social unrest caused by people eager to see the economy reopen faster and those distressed by the killing of Minneapolis resident George Floyd, County Executive Steve Bellone (D) said he appreciates the peaceful way people are demonstrating in Suffolk County.
“I want to thank everyone who has been out there, participating in these demonstrations, for doing this peacefully, and expressing their rights as American citizens,” Bellone said on his daily conference call. “Unfortunately, we have seen too many instance where that has not been the case across the country.”
Indeed, in several cities, the reaction to the death of Floyd after a former police officer knelt on his neck for over eight minutes, has led to violence and chaos.
“Looting is never acceptable,” said Bellone. “It undermines the point of the message. It has the effect of taking the attention away from the change people are fighting for, the change people want to see.”
Viral Numbers
The number of people who tested positive for COVID-19 in the last day was 111, bringing the total to 39,643. That doesn’t include the 13,953 who tested positive for the antibody.
As fo May 29, the number of residents in the hospital with COVID-19 declined by six to 269.
The number of people in Intensive Care Unit beds also declined by six to 74.
Over the last day, 24 people were discharged from the hospital.
The number of fatalities related to complications from the virus continues to climb, with nine people losing their lives to the pandemic, raising the total to 1,901.
The county distributed over 9,000 pieces of personal protective equipment in the last day, raising that total to over 5.7 million.
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