The number of positive cases has risen in Suffolk County to over 1,553; with a total of 30,000 tests having been conducted. Of those, a total of 1,463 patients are hospitalized with 506 in the ICU.
According to Suffolk County executive Steve Bellone, those numbers reflect an increase rate by about 100 a day with a jump of about 150 a day over last weekend. However, hospitalizations have seen a smaller increase in the past few days, possibly indicating that the county has reached its apex with a potential plateau.
“If that is where we are at, that is great news, but we need more time to see more data to see if that is the case,” Bellone said during a Zoom press conference held earlier this week. “If that is [true] the next question is, will it be a plateau for a while or will we see a decline rel- atively quickly?”
If the county has, in fact, reached its apex, then Bellone said that means the social distancing, economy shutdown and isolation measures are working.
“These sacrifices will and have saved lives,” he added. “This does not mean we take our foot off the pedal. We don’t know and we need more time and more data to confirm that everything we have been doing is working.”
With that being said, Bellone noted that there is still a lawful order in place enforcing social distancing.
“Now is the time to hunker down and win this battle,” he continued, hoping to save as many lives as possible.
Hospital bed capacity has also reached over 3,292. Currently, 631 hospital beds are available and 96 ICU beds. Seventy-three COVID-19 patients were discharged within the last 24 hours and deaths have reached 263. Personal protective equipment has also been sent to the county, with a total of 150,000 surgical masks and 200,000 N95 masks.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here