The news comes as cases continue to rise throughout the county, and the COVID-19 positivity rate increased to 6.7. A month ago it was just over 1 percent.
In response, and in accordance with state mandates, hospital administrators have increased capacity in Suffolk County. The number of total hospital beds countywide is up to 3,119 from just under 3,000 at the start of the month. The number of ICU beds is up to 417 from 382 at the start of the month.
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo has tasked hospitals with expanding their in-house capacity by 25 percent, with more beds possible in the form of temporary facilities like those that were put up in the early days of the pandemic. To staff the additional beds, state health officials are calling upon retired doctors, nurses, and other medical personnel to return to the workforce.
“At the same time we have to slow the spread by doing what we know works — social distancing, wearing masks, and avoiding gatherings,” the governor said Monday as the state began to distribute limited quantities of vaccinations.
Hospitalizations could approximately double in one month if the current rate of growth continues, he said.
1,084 cases on average daily
County-wide an average daily 1,084 cases were reported in the past seven days, up from 980 on average the week before. In all, 2,118 people have died county-wide since the start of the pandemic (including two on Shelter Island). About five deaths per day are occurring per week.
On December 13, 1,087 new cases were reported, bringing the county’s cumulative total to 75,454. It was the 10th day that new cases in the county exceeded 1,000.
“To put this in perspective, during the height of the pandemic this spring, Suffolk County only saw 12 days over 1,000 new cases,” Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said earlier in the week.
To date, Suffolk County’s COVID-19 tracking dashboard displays 22 cases of COVID-19 on Shelter Island. The official figure may not include as many as nine others in the past several weeks that are known to local officials. These may be among the 3,431 cases reported on the dashboard as “Township Unknown”.
Apparently, our reliance on Post Office boxes for mail delivery has caused serious lags in reporting at the state level, where street addresses are required for proper data entry. Local authorities ask that anyone who tests positive here report the information in confidence to the Shelter Island Police Department using the non-emergency number, 631-749-0600.
If you have questions, call the Suffolk County Department of Health Services 311 hotline. The Town of Shelter Island website, shelterislandtown.us/covid-19-info, has links and phone numbers for COVID-19 resources, including local testing.
