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Covid 19

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Chart shows COVID-19 hospitalizations during the three waves. Image from the New York State Department of Health website

Phew!

The dramatic and steep rise in positive infections caused by the ubiquitous omicron mutant of the original COVID-19 strain is declining almost as rapidly as it climbed.

As of Tuesday, Jan. 25, the seven-day average for the percentage of people who tested positive for COVID in Suffolk County stood at 12%, which is well below the 25.9% for the same seven-day average who tested positive just two weeks earlier, according to figures from the New York State Department of Health.

Those numbers, which have been declining on a daily basis, are likely to fall even further, experts said.

“The omicron wave appears to have crested in Suffolk County and New York State, but not in other parts of the country,” Dr. Gregson Pigott, commissioner of the Suffolk County Department of Health Services, wrote in an email.

Public health officials attribute the welcome decline to several factors, including the increasing use of boosters, the adherence to mask guidelines and the reduction in travel and group gatherings.

“The numbers will decline slowly and steadily from the teens to single digits,” said Dr. Sunil Dhuper, chief medical officer at Port Jefferson’s St. Charles Hospital.

Sean Clouston, associate professor in the Program in Public Health and the Department of Family, Population and Preventive Medicine at the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University, added in an email that the “decline appears real and the timing suggest that the holiday period was, again, the main driving factor in the higher rates. We are likely on the other side of this wave.”

The omicron variant, which has involved milder symptoms for many of those infected, has also resulted in fewer hospitalizations.

The increase in hospitalizations is “not proportionate to the rise in cases” Pigott explained. “Our hospitals were overwhelmed when SARS-CoV-2 first hit our area [in 2020]. That has not been the case for the delta wave or the omicron wave.”

Indeed, the increase in the percentage of people who are vaccinated and boosted has helped reduce the need for emergency medical services at hospitals.

Among fully vaccinated people in the state of New York, 0.23% of the population 12 and over has been hospitalized, according to the New York State Department of Health.

That trend also holds true in Suffolk County area hospitals, public health officials said.

“We are seeing significantly reduced number of adults admitted with COVID who have had vaccines and especially those who had vaccines plus boosters,” Dr. Sharon Nachman, chief of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Stony Brook Children’s Hospital, explained in an email. “We suspect that the booster augments your initial immune response, lasting at least six months.”

While vaccines and boosters help prevent hospitalizations, they do not ward off all potential upper respiratory infections, Nachman added. Getting a primary series and a booster is “critical” to reducing the risk of more significant health effects from any potential infection.

The age range of people who are hospitalized has decreased, particularly during the third wave. In the first exposure to the Wuhan strain, a majority of those who needed critical medical care were over 65, particularly before the vaccine was available.

During the omicron wave, however, there is a “noticeable shift between the ages of 18 to 49,” Dhuper said. While the proportion of people as a whole in this group may be lower, in part because people in this age range may not have as many underlying medical conditions, the total number hospitalized is still higher because of the broader spread of the virus.

People in that younger age bracket are “the major shift,” Dhuper said.

The infectiousness of omicron also created a strain on hospitals, as health care workers, even those who were asymptomatic or had minor symptoms, were testing positive.

“We had never seen the number of staff members that were out during the first or second wave,” Dhuper said. Even though the number of people hospitalized wasn’t as high, the overall health care workers available to help care for the population “really stressed our system.”

In the prior waves of the pandemic, the Catholic hospitals were able to do load balancing, in which they shifted patients to hospitals that had the bed space and health care workers.

Toward the latter half of the omicron wave, such maneuvers weren’t as easy to manage in part because of the staff shortages caused by positive tests.

Discharging people earlier and using effective but limited supply monoclonal antibody treatments for eligible patients that reduce the severity of symptoms helped reduce the strain on the system, Dhuper added.

In terms of protecting the population, Dhuper urged residents to consider the benefit of vaccines and boosters.

“The majority of patients hospitalized in the intensive care unit are unvaccinated,” Dhuper said.

The rate of people who were unvaccinated and hospitalized with COVID-19 in the week ending on Dec. 11, which was the highest figure for 2021, was 91.1 per 100,000 people in the population, compared with 4.1 per 100,000 among the vaccinated, according to the New York State Department of Health.

“Those are amazing numbers in terms of the role of vaccines and how it’s protecting people from getting hospitalized and dying,” Dhuper said.

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Sean Clouston. Photo by Rachel Kidman

By Daniel Dunaief

The same wind that powers sailboats, makes kites dart through the air, and causes flags to flutter can make being outdoors in a group safer, particularly during the pandemic.

While public health officials have suggested that being outdoors with others amid the pandemic is safer than remaining inside, the strength of the wind can affect the level of protection provided by wide open spaces.

That’s the conclusion Sean Clouston, Associate Professor in the Program in Public Health and the Department of Family, Population and Preventive Medicine at the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University, reached after studying public health data from 96,000 cases of COVID in Suffolk County from March 16, 2020 to December 31, 2020.

By combining public health data with the daily reports from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Clouston found that days in which the temperature was between 60 and 84 degrees Fahrenheit and in which the wind was about 5 miles per hour or less had higher COVID-19 transmission than those days in which the wind speed was faster.

This kind of study, which was recently published in the journal BMC Infectious Disease, might affect the guidance policy makers provide to reduce the risk of COVID transmission during outdoor gatherings.

“If you’re imaging yourself as a policy maker and you want to contain COVID, what do you do?” Clouston asked rhetorically. Vaccines and masks are established tools. Ensuring airflow is higher might also be important, he suggested.

Indeed, amid the early days of the pandemic in 2020, public officials closed parks in Suffolk County for a while and eventually reopened them.

An alternative could be to provide access to parks where wind speed is also protective, or to reduce the use of parks where social distancing is difficult and where wind speed is lower.

At the same time, residents might want to protect themselves by putting out fans in their backyard or some other airflow devices to keep the flow of air moving during a social gathering, reducing the chance of transmitting the virus. People might want to avoid using tents that reduce the flow of air around them.

Additionally, people could eat out at restaurants where the airflow is stronger. 

Diners can search for places where the air “moves around, so the outdoor experience is as protective as possible,” Clouston said. He recognized that the data had some variability between when people who went outside might have contracted COVID. The air flow could increase and then decrease and the average length of time from exposure to symptoms and testing could differ between people.

“Any time we deal with humans, this is the problem,” Clouston said. Researchers can’t control for everything. Instead, they have to assume people make decisions in a consistent, but variable, way.

The larger data set, with close to 100,000 cases, enabled Clouston and his colleagues to average out the effects of the time when people reported their positive COVID tests.

For numerous cases, people had a good idea where and how they contracted COVID. Even when they were at outdoor events, such as a barbecue, some people had indoor parties where they ate together.

In addition, merely being outdoors didn’t reduce the risk if people were standing in the equivalent of stale air, where wind couldn’t reach them and help carry viral particles away from others who attended these events.

Being outside if the air isn’t moving is similar to being indoors in a space with a very large ceiling and a wide space between walls, he explained. It is safer than a small room, but it is not inherently safe on its own.

As for air circulation indoors, Clouston said people have suggested that moving air in buildings could reduce the spread of the virus.

Testing the effects of having HEPA filters or air filtration systems run continuously in hospitals  compared to areas that don’t have such units could reveal the benefit of having these air flow systems. Some studies have been done on this, although more work is ongoing, he said. 

Clouston suggested that other environmental conditions could also impact the transmissibility of the virus. The heat index, for example, might explain why wind speed might be important.

The heat index “might diminish the effect or make it stronger,” Clouston said. “It can push people indoors.”

Clouston worked on this study with Stony Brook colleagues in the Department of Family, Population and Preventive Medicine Assistant Professor Olga Morozova and Professor Jaymie Meliker. The team has worked with the Suffolk County Department of Health since 2020 on different aspects of COVID modeling.

Clouston was surprised that the research revealed a threshold model wind speed. He was also surprised to see that the speed was so low. “You only need a little airflow,” he explained.

The Stony Brook scientist looked at where the positive cases were located by zip code. The summer distribution and the spatial distribution was somewhat unclear, he said.

The spread of COVID was distributed by population size and density. Population size and density are likely more important than alterations in microclimate in the summer.

The analysis is important for places when and where outdoor exposures are most common, he explained.

“This may be true in the summer on Long Island or in the winter in southern states like Louisiana when outdoor activities are more comfortable,” he wrote in an email.

Clouston has several ongoing projects. He has papers discussing the role of social inequalities and COVID, a paper looking at clinical risk factors for COVID at Stony Brook Hospital, and one describing the initial wave of COVID in World Trade Center responders.

He would like to look at the effect of outdoor protests during 2020 on the spread of COVID, which would require data on attendance at those events and at the ones in New York City.

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METRO photo

As the holiday break began to wind down and COVID-19 infection rates climbed, many parents hoped their children would be learning remotely for a week or two instead of returning to their classrooms.

Many feared that their children would get sick if they returned to school buildings and hoped that their districts would take advantage of their past remote learning experiences and allow students to return to a virtual classroom temporarily — just long enough for the holiday virus surge to pass.

While a few schools on Long Island did switch to remote and other districts offered an option, many school officials opened the doors to their classrooms as if they didn’t have a clue as to how to use alternative methods to educate.

Many people would agree that learning during the pandemic for a majority of students was difficult when a day at school meant logging into a computer instead of boarding a bus. The ideal option is to be seated in a classroom. However, in the worst of times, such as the world continuing to fight a virus that could be deadly to some, would switching to remote learning for a week or two be so harmful?

To keep our children and their families safe, school districts should be at the ready to switch to remote learning when infection rates soar. While health officials can advise not to gather during the holidays, is it such a terrible thing to allow people to be with their loved ones and then look at a screen when school is back in session?

Technology has made it possible to continue learning and working during difficult times such as these. Perfecting remote techniques and always being prepared to use them means that learning, working, basic health care and more can continue no matter what is going on around us, except for maybe a power outage.

And with more employers offering work-from-home options, many parents will be able to watch their children in the house if their children need to log into a computer to connect with their classroom. Which in turn, eliminates the old snow or sick day problem of who is going to watch the kids.

It’s been said many times during the pandemic that maybe instead of getting back to normal, it might be better to embrace a new normal. Let’s retain the lessons we have learned the last two years and increase our country’s chances of soon enjoying good times once again.

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Town of Huntington Councilman Ed Smyth (R) will run for supervisor this November. Photo from Huntington Republican Committee

Last election cycle, former Town of Huntington Councilman Ed Smyth (R) decided to make a change. Instead of running for the seat he held for four years, he aimed for supervisor after Chad Lupinacci (R) decided not to run for reelection in 2021.

Smyth said being supervisor is slightly different from being a councilman. He said while as councilman he needed to read through agendas and weigh options, now he has to start the process earlier, taking into consideration more details in the process such as was there a bidding process or an RFP done.

“It’s your obligation to create most of the resolutions and agendas and know what’s going into them and understand why they’re being put on the timetable,” he said.

Smyth said Lupinacci leaves behind significant accomplishments while in office including resolving the LIPA lawsuit and enacting term limits. Smyth also complimented the former supervisor on how well he guided the community through the early stages of the pandemic and shutdowns, adding there was no playbook to follow.

“There were never any cuts to essential services in the town, and we never had to pierce the tax cap or anything like that,” he said.

Less than two weeks in office, Smyth said he has already had to tackle issues brought on by COVID-19.

“One of the first things we’re trying to do is put together a COVID policy that tracks more closely to the CDC policies or guidance without violating New York State’s regulations,” he said.

The town supervisor added that the council found that both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the state’s policies weren’t coherent and sometimes the two policies were conflicting with each other, especially regarding how many days to isolate after being exposed to the virus with no symptoms. In the end, he feels a good policy was established for town employees which will be helpful in the future.,

He said the town’s Senior Center was already affected in the new year by COVID-related staffing shortages. The center was closed to the public the second week of January; however meals were able to be delivered to residents.

Smyth also is looking forward to working with the building department and implementing new systems. He said the town is fortunate to have new councilman Sal Ferro (R) who has been in the construction trade for decades and is CEO of Alure Home Improvements. Smyth also said a priority is supporting local businesses and attracting more to the area.

Infrastructure is also on his mind with a new sewer system in Huntington Station. At the end of the year, Lupinacci and County Executive Steve Bellone (D) announced a partnership between the town and county, where both municipalities would invest $22 million to fund the Huntington Station Hub Sewer Project, which is the first one to be funded under Suffolk’s newly created Wastewater Infrastructure Fund. Money from the federal American Rescue Plan Act made the funding possible.

According to the town, approximately 229 parcels near Huntington’s Long Island Rail Road station and south along Route 110, as well as some commercial blocks of Depot Road and industrial land along the train tracks, will be connected to the sewer.

“I think it’s going to be a tremendous economic benefit to Huntington Station over the next five to 10 years, simply because, as everywhere on Long Island, if you’re not on sewers, you’re frozen in time for development,” the town supervisor said. “If we can get those lines completed, up and running sooner rather than later, it’s going to bring a tremendous amount of capital investment into the Huntington Station area, plus the environmental benefits of doing it.”

When asked what advice he would give new council members Ferro and Dave Bennardo (R), Smyth said, “Stay grounded in the community and attend as many local events as you possibly can.”

He said there’s no substitute for attending events as it gives elected officials the opportunity to hear directly from constituents.

“I would say that’s how we find out about 90% of the issues that are going on in the town that somebody in the community proactively approaches one of our five Town Board members or somebody who works with the town: ‘Hey, listen, we have a problem over here.’ There’s a drainage problem or a loitering problem or there’s an abandoned house problem or there are cars parked here that haven’t moved in two years. Just all sorts of day-to-day quality of life issues.”

Smyth said he doesn’t have any issues with Councilman Eugene Cook (I) who ran against him for supervisor. He compared it to an NHL game, “where the fights are real but you leave it on the ice. You don’t take it to the locker room.”

He said they agree on 95% of issues that come before the town, and they “hit the reset button” when they saw each other two days after the election and have had no problems working together.

Now, Smyth has his mind on the town’s future.

“It’s my goal to make Huntington the economic epicenter of Long Island,” he said. “I think it’s going to take the infrastructure to do that, to build out our existing businesses and to attract new ones. I want, when Russell 2000 companies or even Fortune 500 companies are looking to relocate to the Northeast and they say, ‘Let’s go to Long Island,’ the first place they stop is Huntington.”

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North Shore school districts share what they’re doing to keep up with the new COVID variants. Stock photo

As students went back to school after the winter break, a spike in COVID-19 cases caused widespread absences fueled by the Omicron variant. 

As of Monday, Suffolk County has experienced a 24.1% positivity rate, according to the New York State Department of Health. 

These numbers come just one day before Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) announced that the state will be ending contact tracing for the virus. She said that keeping up with the number of cases is “nearly impossible” with the Omicron surge and the focus should rather be on vaccinations and testing. 

“We have 12,000 new cases a day. It is almost impossible to do contact tracing the way we have been in the past,” Hochul said at a news briefing in Manhattan Jan. 11.

The county has yet to announce if it will also stop contact tracing on the local level. 

But to continue keeping children safe in their schools, some North Shore districts have implemented new protocols, on top of mask wearing, social distancing and virtual learning.

Elwood

In a statement from Elwood school district, Superintendent Kenneth Bossert said that at the high point of the COVID surge, which was immediately following the holiday break, the district had approximately 200 students isolated or in quarantine.

“Any student who is directed to isolate or quarantine due to COVID-19 has the opportunity to work remotely in Elwood, K-12,” he said. 

Northport-East Northport

Residents in the Northport-East Northport community received a letter from Superintendent Robert Banzer last week providing an update on some changes that took place due to the surge. 

At the time of the notice, which was sent out Jan. 7, the quarantine and isolation expectations for students and staff reduced for positive cases from 10 days to five days as long as the conditions in the guidance are met. These changes to quarantine protocols are also outlined and are based on vaccination/booster status. 

For remote learning while quarantining, Banzer expressed his sympathy noting, “We understand that remote learning is not ideal,” but some changes were made for students to learn while at home. 

High school and middle school students were updated on the district’s virtual quarantine support schedule, which provides periodic access to a subject area teacher throughout the day. Elementary students were granted increased access to their quarantine support teacher. 

“A key difference between virtual quarantine support versus livestreaming a classroom (aka: turning the camera on in the classroom) is the ability for students to interact with a teacher and ask questions, which is not typically possible with a traditional livestreaming approach,” he wrote. “This creates conditions that allow for full attention on students; the large majority who are present in class, and those who are online seeking virtual assistance from the subject area teacher.”

The district, along with others on Long Island, was given testing kits for students and staff to conduct at home, as well as community testing to take place on Wednesdays from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. at the Bellerose Avenue location. 

Smithtown

Smithtown schools are prioritizing in-person instruction, according to Superintendent Mark Secaur. 

“We strongly believe it to be superior to remote learning,” he stated. “That said, we do allow for remote learning via livestreaming for students who are unable to attend due to COVID-related quarantine and isolation requirements.”

He said he believes the district offers a safe in-person learning environment, so it has not allowed for students to “opt-in” to a remote environment unless they are forced to miss school due to a COVID quarantine or isolation period. 

Three Village

In a letter sent to residents, the Three Village School District has continued to keep students spaced at 3 feet and 6 feet when in the cafeteria. Plastic barriers can be put up if requested by the family, but none are being distributed to all at this time. 

The notice stated for secondary students, “Due to an increased number of COVID-19 cases after the post-winter recess, the following procedures will be enacted from Thursday, Jan. 6, until Friday, Jan. 21, at the high school, and until Friday, Jan. 28, at the junior high schools.”

These include livestreaming into classes if a student or family is in isolation. The livestream for Three Village occurs for the entire day, and not for individual periods of instruction. It is not interactive and will continue beyond the dates indicated for quarantined students only.

Comsewogue

Superintendent Jennifer Quinn said that some parents were concerned sending their children back to school after winter break, so the district implemented a 10-day virtual option for families, ending this week. Students always have the option to livestream into their classes.

“Virtual learning is good for the time being, but it’s not the best way to learn,” she said, noting that in-person learning is important for social and emotional growth. 

In conjunction with the virtual option, the district continues to follow the state’s mask mandate and 6-feet distancing. 

“When things calm down, we have written a letter to send to the governor asking that students sit at their desk with no masks,” Quinn said. “The spread is not happening in schools.”

But until the Omicron variant ceases, and things get back to some type of normalcy, Comsewogue will continue providing tests to students and staff. 

Quinn added that the day before school started, over 2,000 tests were given out. 

Middle Country 

Roberta Gerold, superintendent of Middle Country Central School District, is confident that things are looking up. She said on Tuesday, Jan. 11, that attendance in her schools is starting to get better. 

“I think we’re starting to plateau,” she said. “After reporting 10 days of absences after the breaks with family, today it’s finally slowing down.”

She added that the district is testing staff once a week, while students can get tested every Monday if the parent asks. 

“We want to make sure that if they have symptoms it’s not COVID,” she said. 

Middle Country has kept up with its mask mandates and physical distancing, as well. 

“Our positivity rate is still below the county and state rate,” she added. “We’re still as careful now as we were before.”

Students have the option to livestream into their classes if absent and are offered virtual instruction during quarantine. 

“Our staff is amazing,” Gerold said. “They are working double, triple duty to support the staff who aren’t there, and they are impacted at home, too, but are still here for our students relentlessly.”

Gerold commended the district as a whole: “We just want the students to be safe.”

Shoreham-Wading River

Superintendent Gerard Poole said that “luckily” things are better this week. 

“We are full in-person learning, but if someone is out, they can get a livestream,” he said. 

For grades K-5, students are spaced out at 6 feet and it’s the same for secondary students with activities like chorus, band and in the cafeteria. 

“The community parents continue to collaborate to help students,” he said. “And our nurses continue to be heroes … the flexibility of the staff is amazing. We are so thankful for them.” 

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Angela Kaziris, owner of Premiere Pastry, fills her car with pies to be delivered. Photo from The Ward Melville Heritage Organization

When Stony Brook Village Center businesses heard health care workers are in need of a little support, they didn’t hesitate to help.

Callie Brennan and Tim Martino, owners of Crazy Beans, dropping off meals to the hospital.

The Ward Melville Heritage Organization announced Monday that once again it has organized the village center’s restaurants and eateries to deliver meals and breakroom snacks to Stony Brook University Hospital.

“It’s disappointing that we have to start up this program again, but the health care workers are there for the Long Island community, and we have to be there for them,” said Gloria Rocchio, WMHO president.

Between April 2020 and May 2021, the Stony Brook Village/Stony Brook University Hospital Meal Train Program provided more than 12,000 meals and snacks to the medical professionals at SBUH, according to WMHO. Grist Mill Eatery, Mirabelle Restaurant at the Three Village Inn, Crazy Beans, Stony Brook Chocolate, Village Coffee  Market, Sweet Mama’s restaurant, Brew Cheese and Premiere Pastry are currently participating in the meal program.

According to WMHO, community members can become involved by donating to participating businesses.

Marios Patatinis, owner of Sweet Mama’s, said residents have been the heroes regarding the past and current meal trains due to their generous contributions. He said it enables restaurant owners to not only donate the food but helps to give the employees who prepare the meals more work hours.

“The true heroes are not the restaurants,” Patatinis said. “We have been working the hardest we can to keep afloat for the past few years, but it’s the families that are behind the scenes that are actually sponsoring these meals. They’re the ones that are the heroes in my eyes for the past two years.”

Carol Gomes, Stony Brook Medicine’s chief executive officer and chief operating officer, is grateful for the help.

“The team at Stony Brook University Hospital continues to provide a heroic level of care through this pandemic,  and the support provided by the Stony Brook village meal train program is deeply appreciated and a reflection of the ways in which the community values our efforts on their behalf,” she said.

Donations for the program can also be sent directly to WMHO, which is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Every dollar sent will be put toward the meal program and donations are tax-deductible. Checks can be made payable to WMHO, and “for the Stony Brook University Hospital Meal Program account” must be specified on the memo line. Checks can be sent to WMHO, P.O. Box 572, Stony  Brook, NY 11790.

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Graduate student John Yuen wearing an N95 mask for fit testing after the mask was disinfected via dry heat. Photo from SBU
Study details published in PLOS ONE could serve as a guide to practical, safe reuse of N95s.

Entering a third year of the COVID-19 pandemic and the latest infection surge nationwide comes with many challenges. One of those is for a continued adequate supply of masks, including the often used N95 respirator masks for healthcare and other settings. A study led by Stony Brook University researchers discovered that a readily available method using dry ovens can be used to disinfect N95s for reuse, in settings where new masks may not be available. Their findings are published in PLOS ONE.

To combat any shortages of N95 masks during the pandemic, many institutions were forced to search for other alternatives to protect health care providers and their patients. While some studies have evaluated the impact of various methods of decontamination on how  well masks filter viral-sized particles, this study adds to such research and also addresses the equally important concept of maintaining proper mask fit after decontamination.

“Our study demonstrated that treatment of N95 face masks using dry heat was sufficient to inactivate COVID-19, while preserving the ability of these masks to filter aerosolized particles for potentially exposed workers,” summarizes Kenneth Shroyer, MD, PhD, lead author and the Marvin Kushner Professor and Chair of Pathology at the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University.

Since heat is potentially more readily accessible than other methods of decontamination in many healthcare facilities, the researchers used dry heat sterilization to disinfect the masks. They also used X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, contact angle, and electron microscopy collected at the Center for Functional Nanomaterials—a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science user facility at DOE’s Brookhaven National Laboratory—to test for changes in the material of N95 masks post decontamination.

By contrast, other methods for disinfection, including treatment with hydrogen peroxide vapor, may be equally effective in specially equipped facilities but are usually not available in most hospitals or outpatient clinical care facilities.

Dr. Shroyer and colleagues also tested autoclaving, which is widely available in most hospitals and is a proven method of sterilization but found that this caused the fit of the respirator onto the user’s face to fail. Thus, the researchers ruled out autoclaving as a safe method to decontaminate N95 masks.

The research involved experts from the School of Medicine, the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, the College of Arts and Sciences, the Institute for Electrochemically Stored Energy, and the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS), along with colleagues in the Interdisciplinary Science Department and the Center for Functional Materials at Brookhaven National Laboratory.

For additional details about the initial studies that served as the foundation for this study – which was launched during the first wave of the pandemic in April 2020 – see this story.

Dr. Shroyer emphasizes that the findings from the study highlight the importance of both optimal disinfection and mask fit and suggest that when no other decontamination alternatives are available, N95 masks can be reused after dry heat treatment to ensure the safety of health care workers.

 

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Medical healthcare holding COVID-19 , Coronavirus swab collection kit, wearing PPE protective suit mask gloves, test tube for taking OP NP patient specimen sample,PCR DNA testing protocol process

In an effort to expand access to testing, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone today announced the opening of three new community based testing sites. Rapid Antigen COVID-19 tests, which will be administered by Baseline Health and Reef Technologies, will be on a first come, first served basis.

The first testing site at Hecksher State Park will open on Wednesday, December 29th, the second testing site at Red Creek Park, which was formerly located at Francis S. Gabreski Airport, will open on Monday, January 3rd, and the third testing site located at Cathedral Pines County Park will open on Tuesday, January 4th.

“What we have learned so far is that the Omicron variant is highly transmittable and causing a spike in our daily positivity rate,” said Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone. “Testing is one of the best tools we have when it comes to containing the spread of this virus. As we approach the New Year, these three new sites will provide quick and convenient results for our residents so that they can protect themselves and their loved ones.”

Rapid Testing sites include:

Hecksher State Park, Field 8 (Opening on Wednesday, December 29th)

1 Heckscher State Parkway

East Islip

Open every Monday through Thursday from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM

Testing Capacity: Up 1,000 tests a day

 

Red Creek Park (Opening Monday, January 3rd)

102 Old Riverhead Rd

Hampton Bays

Open for school-required testing and community testing

Open on Mondays only from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM

Testing Capacity: Up to 500 tests per day

 

Cathedral Pines County Park (Opening on Tuesday, January 4th)

116 Yaphank Middle Island Rd

Middle Island

Open on Tuesdays and Fridays from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM

Testing Capacity: Up to 500 tests per day

 

Residents with any questions can contact Suffolk311.

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Stock photo

The Greek letter versions of the variants are beating up on Suffolk County, just as families prepare to gather during the holidays and New Year.

Suffolk County reported a 13.6% positive testing rate on Dec. 20, which is the highest rate in over a year, according to County Executive Steve Bellone (D).

“The omicron variant is, without question, powering a surge in cases here,” Bellone said on a conference call with reporters. “We are seeing that play out in long lines for testing as the holiday season continues and as Christmas and New Year’s approach.”

Indeed, Bellone announced that he is using his emergency powers to create three new testing sites on Long Island. The county will open a site at Gabreski Airport in Westhampton Beach on Dec. 27, in West Sayville on Dec. 27, and in the Sound Beach area on Jan. 4.

Bellone said he chose these sites near locations where the positivity rate is higher.

Bellone encourages residents to visit the county’s website, at suffolkcountyny.gov/covid19 to get details about signing up for tests at these new locations.

As for holiday preparations, Bellone and Dr. Gregson Pigott, commissioner of the Suffolk County Department of Health Services, suggested residents could continue with their holiday gathering plans as long as they take adequate precautions.

“It’s important to be vaccinated with Pfizer or Moderna,” Pigott said. “It’s more important to get that third shot, that booster shot, that’ll give you the maximum protection.”

Infectious disease experts urged residents to remain vigilant about the virus during the current surge and as people prepare to visit families.

“I would suggest making sure that everyone test for COVID and receive a negative test result” before family gatherings, Sean Clouston, associate professor in the Department of Family, Population and Preventive Medicine, explained in an email. “This is especially true for those in which there are individuals who are either unvaccinated, or those where attendees either are vaccinated but aged 60 and older.” Hospitals in the area have seen a dramatic increase in emergency room visits from residents who contracted COVID.

“The number of COVID hospitalizations has tripled in the last three weeks,” Dr. Adrian Popp, chair of Infection Control at Huntington Hospital/Northwell Health, wrote in an email.

Popp explained that patients who have been vaccinated have a milder form of COVID, while unvaccinated patients have suffered more severe symptoms. About two thirds of hospitalized patients are unvaccinated at Huntington Hospital, while several patients are in the intensive care unit.

With the increase in omicron cases, Popp explained that “we are all concerned that we may be overwhelmed if too many sick patients will show up all at once in the emergency room.”

To be sure, even with the increase in hospitalizations from the fall, the number of people batting the disease in the hospital remains well below peak levels. As of a year ago, 526 people battled COVID in the hospital. This week, that number stood at 326.

“The numbers are increasing, but they are still less than they were,” Bellone said.

Dr. Sunil Dhuper, chief medical officer at Port Jefferson’s St. Charles Hospital, suggested a three-pronged approach to defending against the next phase in the spread of COVID.

Getting vaccines and boosters is the first and most important step. Treating vulnerable residents with monoclonal antibodies is the second, and testing and wearing masks is the third step.

GlaxoSmithKline’s monoclonal treatment, called sotrovimab, works the best against omicron, Dhuper said.

At this point, the supply of that treatment, however, is limited. Dhuper hopes to get the supply issue resolved this Monday.

Until that is resolved, however, only people who are unvaccinated and who are vaccinated and immunocompromised or over 65 are eligible for this treatment, which is what the National Institutes of Health and Department of Health have recommended, Dhuper said.

The shortage of monoclonal antibodies is “an issue that needs to be addressed at the state and federal levels,” Bellone said. “I’m encouraged by what we’ve seen happening there. It’s an issue that we’ve heard from hospitals. With this surge, we’re seeing all of the capacity tested once again.”

Indeed, hospitals remain prepared to increase their staffing levels, particularly in January when people return from traveling and visiting family members.

“Everybody is aware that we may call upon any employee at any time, even if they are on vacation if we begin to see that the system is getting overwhelmed,” Dhuper said.

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Photo from Stony Brook Medicine

WHAT: 

Livestream Event – Post-COVID: In it for the long haul

According to the CDC, most people with COVID-19 get better within weeks, though some experience long-term effects. Post-COVID conditions are a wide range of new, returning, or ongoing health problems people can experience weeks after first being infected. This Tuesday, December 21, experts from Stony Brook Medicine’s Post-COVID clinic, the first of its kind on Long Island, will discuss these long-term effects and approaches to care.

Stony Brook’s post-COVID facility opened in November of 2020 at Stony Brook Medicine’s Advanced Specialty Care in Commack to provide ongoing care and assessment of adult patients who are recovering from COVID-19. The clinic provides care for patients who are still experiencing symptoms as well as monitors patients for any late effects of COVID-19 infection. Patients have access to specialists in primary care, cardiology, pulmonary medicine, nephrology, vascular and neurology as well as to mental health providers.

For more information visit, https://www.stonybrookmedicine.edu/advancedspecialtycare/post_COVID_clinic

WHEN:

Tuesday, December 21, 2021 at 4:45 PM EST

The livestream event can be seen on:

Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/298909540164955/posts/4578401205549079/

Or

YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vqCloqgKGg

MODERATOR:

  • Sritha Rajupet, MD, MPH, Director, Population-Based Health Initiatives, Department of Family, Population & Preventive Medicine and Primary Care Lead, Post-COVID Clinic, Stony Brook Medicine

EXPERTS:

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