The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention highlighted Suffolk County and Nassau County as regions of high COVID-19 transmission in recent weeks and issued a recommendation that residents wear masks when indoors in close contact with others.
The CDC lists the infection rate in Suffolk County as “very high” and spotlights rising numbers of those hospitalized because of the coronavirus.
The CDC recommends that residents wear masks when indoors in public or crowded places and on public transportation.
The numbers of reported new COVID-19 cases spiked in late November, jumping from about 300 per day to more than 600 on average in December and more than 800 on several days in the last two weeks.
Testing results alone are no longer seen as a true reflection of spread in the community, since many of those who contract the virus now are never tested or take at-home tests that are not reported. But hospitalizations for COVID-19 symptoms have also ticked up in the last two weeks.
On December 19, there were 413 people hospitalized in Suffolk County with COVID-19 symptoms — a 28 percent increases since December 5.
On December 1, Stony Brook Southampton Hospital had just one patient who had been admitted to the hospital for COVID-19 symptoms, as opposed to patients who were admitted for other reasons and found to have COVID-19 when given a required test. As of December 16, the last day for which stats from the hospital were reported to the State Department of Health, the hospital had seven patients admitted for COVID-19 symptoms.
One of the hospital’s COVID-19 patients died on December 12, the state data show, though the state does not specifically identify whether the patient was one admitted for symptoms of the virus or whether their death was related to complications from COVID-19.
Peconic Bay Medical Center in Riverhead has nine patients admitted because of severe COVID-19 symptoms. Eight people infected with the virus have died at the hospital this month alone.
There have been 23 deaths from COVID-19 in the past week countywide, according to CDC data, an increase of nearly 10 percent from the week prior.
The CDC estimates that more than 97 percent of Suffolk County residents have received the initial two doses of the original COVID-19 vaccinations, but a far lower percentage have received the updated bivalent booster intended to specifically protect against the omicron variants that have become dominant nationwide since last winter.