In a Season of Hope, SC’s Bellone Sees Positive Signs in the Viral Battle
Amid the religious holidays of Passover and Easter, Suffolk County is starting to see some trends that offer some hope to residents.
Some of the numbers have started to move in a favorable direction. The number of people hospitalized with coronavirus increased by 16 over the last 24 hours, climbing to 1,658. At the same time, the number of people entering the Intensive Care Unit only rose by 18 to 541.
In the prior week, hospitals admitted an average of 144 patients per day. The average this week has come down to 35 people per day.
“We’ll be looking forward to this week,” County Executive Steve Bellone (D) said on his daily conference call with reporters. “Hopefully, we’ll be seeing those numbers come down” even further.
Additionally, the number of people discharged from the hospital who had coronavirus reached 160, which is the highest number since residents with COVID-19 were admitted.
The combination of lower admissions and higher hospital discharges is “great news,” Bellone said.
Bellone said social distancing and keeping residents at home are having a dramatic impact and that it’s unclear whether hospitals in Suffolk County will need all the additional capacity in hospital beds.
Bellone cautioned that some of the recent positive numbers would likely move dramatically against the county if people let their guards down.
“By no means [do these encouraging signs] suggest we are changing course,” he said.
Indeed, the number of positive diagnoses has increased to 20,321, which is a jump of about 1,000 over a number the county adjusted after recognizing some double counting from the day before.
The county is providing new tests in hotspot neighborhoods, including Huntington Station, Riverhead and Brentwood. Later this week, Suffolk County also plans to provide by-appointment testing at Wyandanch and Amityville.
Meanwhile, the number of deaths connected to coronavirus rose another 44, bringing the total to 458.
Bellone offered his condolences to the survivors, adding, “we are thinking about your every day.”
He also thanked schools throughout the county for distributing meals during the public health crisis. Schools have distributed 770,000 meals since the pandemic reached the county, which includes 254,000 meals in the past week.
The county executive also thanked the technology teachers at William Floyd High School who made 550 face shields to protect health care workers who are on the front lines.
Bellone also was asked about the timing to reopen schools amid a back and forth between New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) and Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D). De Blasio would like to close schools for the rest of the academic year, while Cuomo believes that decision rests with his office and should be made in consultation with other officials in the state and schools in the region.
“We are one New York,” Bellone said. “The regional approach makes sense. We’ll be having those conversations in the coming days and beyond as we look at the data and see where we’re going to make the best informed decision.”
Separately, the 25,000 hospital gowns Bellone sent members of the Department of Public Works to retrieve from Allentown, Pennsylvania arrived yesterday.
Meanwhile, the Suffolk County Police Department has had 72 officers test positive for COVID-19, with 21 of them returning to work.
