The Shelter Island COVID-19 case count is at 19 (updated later on Thursday to 20), meaning we’ve had more cases reported officially here since October than we did in the early days of the pandemic. Numbers all over Suffolk County are rising, with an average daily 1,049 cases reported in the past seven days; up from 206 on average during the first week of November.
To date, Suffolk County’s COVID-19 tracking dashboard displays 20 cases of COVID-19 on Shelter Island, with 11 since October 9. Prior to that, the Island had not reported a new case since June. The official figure may not include nine others in the past several weeks that are known to local officials. These may be among the 3,244 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. Read details in this post.
Above 1,000 case on average daily
The number of new COVID-19 cases reported in Suffolk County has dipped below 1,000 for only two days in the last seven. And, the Suffolk County positivity rate has been above 6 percent in each of the last seven days for which figures were available. A month ago, the positivity rate was just over 1 percent.
On December 8, 972 new cases were reported, bringing the county’s cumulative total to 69,996. County Executive Steve Bellone has warned residents not to read too much into slight changes in the daily case count, particularly while the trend is toward rising numbers.
“To put this in perspective, during the height of the pandemic this spring, Suffolk County only saw 12 days over 1,000 new cases,” he said in a news release.
Since the pandemic began, 2,093 people have died of the virus, including two Shelter Island residents. Over the past seven days, 35 county residents have died of the novel coronavirus. By contrast, in the first week of November, only one COVID-19 death was reported.
Prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed
All across the state, health officials worry that the rapid spread of the virus will overwhelm hospital capacity. The percentage of available beds in Suffolk County has dropped from 30 percent in late November to 20 percent as of December 8. However, county hospitals have increased collective ICU capacity from about 380 beds to 398 on December 8, and current ICU capacity is reported at 24 percent.
“We continue to see daily cases, hospitalizations, and deaths increase to levels we have not seen since the spring,” Bellone said in a news release Wednesday.
“While we may all be tired, it is abundantly clear that this virus is not,” he said. ” Everything we do now and over the next few weeks is about saving lives and preventing our hospital system from being overwhelmed. We all have a part to play, and together we can once again accomplish the impossible.”
Where to learn more
If you have questions or concerns related to COVID-19, please call 311 to reach the Suffolk County Department of Health Services hotline. The Town of Shelter Island has posted links and phone numbers for COVID-19 resources, as well as information about local testing sites. Find details on the town website, shelterislandtown.us/covid-19-info.
Given that the state reporting system is not accurately capturing COVID-19 on Shelter Island, local authorities ask that anyone who tests positive and is residing on Shelter Island, report the information in confidence to the Shelter Island Police Department using the non-emergency number, 631-749-0600.
Doing so will help local authorities tailor the community’s response to COVID-19.
