As health officials encourage families to stay home for the Thanksgiving holiday, the Shelter Island COVID-19 case count rose to 15 going into the weekend, Suffolk County reported. Indoor gatherings, even small ones, of people from separate households have been driving recent upticks in New York case counts, state and county officials say.
The figure is cumulative since the county began recording cases of the novel coronavirus in March. Shelter Island COVID-19 cases had remained at nine from June but then increased with two new cases in October. The latest case is the fourth reported since the start of November.
The Shelter Island case count includes only those cases reported to Suffolk County or New York State health authorities for individuals who reported the Island as their primary address. It does not include cases that may have occurred here among people who have a primary residence elsewhere.
Local officials say they know, anecdotally, of a total of as many as 20 cases reported among people on Shelter Island, a few more than are shown on the county tracker.
The case count also does not include 2,957 COVID-19 cases reported in Suffolk County as Township Unknown. Some of these cases may ultimately be reportable to Shelter Island or some other Suffolk County community or maybe cases of individuals who live outside the county.
Of the total 15 cases, 13 were reported in the 11964 ZIP code, and two in the 11965 ZIP code. The first Shelter Island case was reported on March 19 at a time when Suffolk County had 239 total confirmed cases. On Friday, 532 new cases were reported county-wide, according to the Suffolk County COVID-19 tracker, bringing the cumulative total to 56,339.
County-wide, 2,032 people have died as a result of complications from COVID-19. Two Islanders died in the spring, the only local fatalities to date.
The rate of cases for Shelter Island residents now stands at 5.37 per 1,000. This is far below neighboring communities on the East End and is a fraction of the rate in western Suffolk County.
It should not be confused with the widely reported positivity rate, which refers to the number of positive cases out of those tested for the virus. That figure was 3.8 percent as of November 20, the last date for which figures were posted. The seven-day average was 3.3 percent.
In Suffolk County, 140 people were hospitalized, including 28 being treated in an intensive care unit. Suffolk County’s medical facilities currently have about 30 percent of beds available. Elsewhere around the country, COVID-19 cases are straining medical resources, just as they had here in the earliest days of the outbreak.
