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In Suffolk County, 2,181 new COVID-19 cases were reported from tests taken on on Thursday, Jan. 14, according to the state Department of Health. There were 1,858 new infections in Nassau.
The number of new cases is the highest of any region in the state outside of New York City, where there were 7,725 new cases reported on Jan. 14. No other county had more than 750 confirmed cases in the past 24 hours.
There were 21 new COVID-19 fatalities reported in Suffolk, bringing the total to 2,545, while there were 10 new virus-related deaths in Nassau, bringing the total to 2,518.
A total of 2.21 million COVID-19 tests have been administered in Suffolk, with 2.18 million administered in Nassau.
Despite the new spike in cases, the positive infection rate on Long Island is trending in the right direction, going from 9.19 percent on Sunday, Jan. 10 to 9.07 the following day, to 8.90 percent on Tuesday, Jan. 12, and down to 8.69 percent on Jan. 13 and 8.27 percent on Jan. 14.
The number of COVID-19 patients hospitalized on Long Island is at 1,647, representing 0.06 percent of the region's population. State officials are reporting that there are still 29 percent of hospital beds available on Long Island.
Long Island has 854 ICU beds, 635 of which are currently occupied with COVID-19 patients. As of Friday, Jan. 15, 39 percent of the region's ICU beds are still available.
If Long Island finds itself in danger of hitting its 90 percent hospital capacity rate within three weeks, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has vowed to shut down the entire region.
The latest breakdown of confirmed and new COVID-19 cases in Suffolk, according to the county Department of Health on Jan. 15:
- Brookhaven: 33,418;
- Islip: 30,994;
- Babylon: 17,007;
- Huntington: 13,715;
- Smithtown: 8,662;
- Southampton: 3,509;
- Riverhead: 2,308;
- Southold: 1,104;
- East Hampton: 1,088;
- Shelter Island: 35.
The most confirmed COVID-19 cases in Nassau County are being reported the county's Department of Health have been reported in:
- Hempstead: 4,387;
- Freeport: 3,789;
- Levittown: 3,693;
- Hicksville: 3,127;
- Elmont: 2,948;
- Valley Stream: 2,971;
- East Meadow: 2,898;
- Uniondale: 2,717;
- Long Beach: 2,452;
- Franklin Square: 2,404;
- Glen Cove: 2,339;
- Oceanside: 2,141;
- Woodmere: 1,725;
- Baldwin: 1,690;
- Massapequa: 1,609;
- Rockville Centre: 1,511;
- Plainview: 1,499;
- West Hempstead: 1,453;
- Roosevelt: 1,435;
- North Valley Stream: 1,364;
- Wantagh: 1,355;
- Mineola: 1,319;
- North Bellmore: 1,290;
- East Massapequa: 1,327;
- Lynbrook: 1,308;
- North Massapequa: 1,271;
- Merrick: 1,288;
- Massapequa Park: 1,257;
- Westbury: 1,202.
- Garden City: 1,187;
- Seaford: 1,147;
- New Cassel: 1,116.
"The positivity rate will change when communities decide it will change. It's still purely a function of how a community acts and there's still personal responsibility. We talked about what would happen with COVID spread through the holiday season, and much of the diagnosis came true," Cuomo said.
"We said that you were going to see the holiday season increase social activity, and I reminded New Yorkers every day to celebrate smart," he added. "People said that it was the holiday season and they wanted to celebrate, but if you don't celebrate smart, we'll see an increase in the COVID transmission rate.
There were 324,671 COVID-19 tests - a new record - administered in New York on Jan. 14, according to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, resulting in nearly 20,000 positive cases for a 6.14 percent positive infection rate, down dramatically from earlier in the week.
There are now 8,808 COVID-19 patients hospitalized across the state, down 34, while more than 1,500 are in ICU and 962 are intubated with the virus. There were 183 new COVID-19-related deaths reported in the past 24 hours.
Statewide, a total of 1,183,608 positive COVID-19 cases have been confirmed out of 28.13 million tests that have been administered. There have been a total of 32,379 virus-related deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.
"We saw an increase in the COVID transmission rate ... over Hanukkah, Christmas, and Kwanzaa, we shot up like a rocket. After New Year's Day, it started to flatten because the increase in social activity started to flatten," Cuomo added. "And now, we're starting to see a drop post-New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. And that is good news.
"We'd rather not have seen the increase, but I believe the increase would have been worse if we weren't smart and disciplined during the holidays."
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