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New communities on Long Island have been designated as COVID-19 “yellow zone” micro-clusters after seeing a spike in positive infection rates among those tested.
During a COVID-19 briefing on Monday, Nov. 23, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo added four new micro-clusters to the state’s growing list - two each in Nassau and Suffolk counties.
The new yellow zones are Hampton Bays, with a 5.13 percent positivity rate, and Riverhead, with a 4.60 positive positivity rate in Suffolk, and Great Neck, with a 4.77 percent positivity rate, and Massapequa Park, with a 3.9 percent positivity rate in Nassau County.
To view detailed maps of the areas, click here.
An area is designated as a “yellow zone” if it sees positive infection rates of 3.5 percent or more for 10 straight days.
Yellow zone restrictions include a 25-person maximum capacity on mass gatherings, four-person to a table maximum while dining, and 20 percent weekly testing of in-person students, faculty in schools. Bars and restaurants located in the zone are also subject to curfews.
Gatherings in private homes remain limited to 10 people, while information on public school impacts will come directly from each school district.
On Long Island, the infection rate rose from 2.9 percent on Thursday, Nov. 19 and Friday, Nov. 20 to 3.5 percent on Saturday, Nov. 21, according to the state Department of. Health. The seven-day rolling average positive infection rate has climbed to 3.23, among the highest of the state’s nine regions.
Cuomo said that with the holiday season upon New York, he expects the numbers to continue to rise if certain precautions aren’t taken during “the high social season.”
“The COVID rate, the number of hospitalizations, the number of deaths, is all a function of our actions,” he said. “There is no pre-determined result here. It’s a result of our actions, period. You tell me what New Yorkers do today, and I will tell you the infection rate tomorrow,” Cuomo continued.
“Put all that together with the fact that cases are already on the increase, and now wen are coming into the high social season with Thanksgiving, Christmas … it’s the high social season and activity goes way up in this season,” he added. “It’s a bad combination … This is a toxic cocktail of dynamics and facts.”
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