Suffolk County’s COVID-19 positivity rate climbed to 10.6 percent mid-week. That’s up from 7.3 percent just a week earlier and from 2.7 percent at the start of November. Based on numbers, the surge matches a similar uptick last year around this time.
The rate dropped slightly, to 10.5 percent on Thursday. The last time the COVID-19 positivity rate in Suffolk County exceeded 10 percent was January 7, when the rate was 10.9 percent, coming down from a December 29, 2020 high of 12.8 percent.
The most recent numbers were released Friday based on reports from Thursday, the last day for which data are available. Countywide, of 17,005 test results reported, 1,785 new cases were detected. And there were five fatalities.
The Suffolk County seven-day rolling average stands at 9.1 percent. The county infection rate is 120.5 cases per 100,000 residents. It’s 93.9/100K on a 7-day average.
The working assumption is that variants — including the highly contagious delta and omicron — are the cause of rising numbers. Also, as cold weather sets in, people spend more time indoors.
Here on Shelter Island, the case count is 102, up from about 67 in mid-summer (that’s cumulative since March of 2020).
Enforcing the mask mandate
In response to reports of the omicron variant in New York and in advance of a predicted surge in cases due to holiday travel and gatherings, Governor Kathy Hochul instituted a mask mandate effective December 13.
Businesses that don’t require proof of vaccination are to refuse entry to employees, customers, and visitors unless they’re masked. But Hochul left it up to local county authorities to say how they’ll enforce the mandate.
On Friday, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said he would not enact a “hard enforcement.”
“We’ve always taken the approach, as we seek to protect public health, that we’re going to educate, inform, and that’s exactly what we’re doing,’ Bellone said in response to questioning at a media event.
“We’re all dealing with this unprecedented pandemic,” Bellone said. “It continues to change and adapt, in ways that we don’t exactly know where it’s going to go, and we have to adapt too.”
Hochul says celebrate safely
“This is not like the beginning of the pandemic,” Hochul said Friday. “We are prepared for the winter surge because we have the tools at our disposal.”
She encouraged:
- All New Yorkers 5 and older to get fully vaccinated
- All New Yorkers 16 and older who are two months past the Johnson & Johnson vaccine or 6 months past the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna initial vaccine series to get their booster dose
- All New Yorkers 6 months and older to also get their flu shot
- New Yorkers to get tested after traveling and before seeing family
- All travelers, domestic and international, to continue to follow all CDC travel requirements
- New Yorkers who don’t feel well to stay home
- Everyone to wear masks in public indoor spaces and wash hands regularly
“We will continue to work with local partners to make vaccines, boosters, and testing more widely available. Let’s all celebrate the holiday season with our friends and family safely this year.”
Case count still far lower than neighbors
As noted before, Shelter Island — by far the county’s smallest town — has the lowest case count. Southold is next with 2,158; East Hampton with 2,474; Riverhead with 4,888; Southampton with 8,242.
Importantly, the rate of cases per 1,000 residents here is also much lower than in our neighboring East End towns. For example, on Shelter Island, the rate is 36.52/1,000; in Southold, it’s 97.26/1,000; East Hampton, 113.25/1,000; Riverhead, 145.11/1,000 and Southampton, 142.58.
Suffolk County reports many cases — 9,179 — as “location unknown.” Some of these cases are people who test positive but live outside the county. Some may be attributable to East End communities with heavy reliance on Post Office boxes as mailing addresses.
At least in the early days of the pandemic, reporting systems at the state may have overlooked these addresses as they do not represent an individual’s physical location.
Vaccination rates
The state has been tracking vaccination rates, and in many East End ZIP codes, including Shelter Island Heights, 100 percent of people age 18+ reportedly have completed a vaccine series.
In Suffolk County, the average is 90.7 percent for people age 18+. In the 11964 Shelter Island ZIP code, the rate is 63.9 percent.
No matter which ZIP code you’re registered to there are many caveats in the reporting that NYS health authorities say particularly affect small sample sizes (like those here on Shelter Island).
Find details on the state website coronavirus.health.ny.gov/zip-code-vaccination-data.
