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The statewide death toll from COVID-19 fell to 128 on Friday, after hitting its post-spring peak of 166 on New Years Eve, while Suffolk County continued to have many more deaths from coronavirus than Nassau County, the state reported on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in New York City has exceeded one million, according to data released by Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s office.
Suffolk saw 17 deaths from COVID-19 on Friday, the highest number of any county in the state. Nassau had eight.
In December, Suffolk had 83% more deaths from COVID-19 than Nassau, according to a Newsday analysis of state data: 256, compared to 140 in Nassau.
Experts say it’s not clear why the death gap is so large.
“Maybe it’s just the fact that there aren’t as many people socially distancing themselves and wearing masks, and there are more parties or behavioral issues,” said the Dr Bruce Farber, Head of Infectious Diseases at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset and Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park.
Sean Clouston, associate professor of public health at Stony Brook University, said part of the root could be the coronavirus spreading during Thanksgiving gatherings, which led to infected people later infecting others.
“The way these infections develop is fast,” he said. “And they build on each other.”
Deaths and hospitalizations are lagging behind the new infections, so the effect of many December vacation meetings is yet to be seen, he said.
With COVID-19-related hospitalizations and deaths much higher than several weeks ago and concerns over a mutated version of the coronavirus believed to be more contagious, “things don’t look good in the short term” , said Farber.
Statewide, the death toll has risen above 100 since Dec. 14, except for one day, after generally remaining single-digit over the summer.
More than 15,000 new positive test results statewide on Friday pushed the number of confirmed coronavirus cases to 1,005,785. It is the fourth highest in the country, according to the Coronavirus Resource Center at Johns Hopkins University.
“There is no doubt that the number of cases far exceeds the number reported” because many people – especially those with mild or no symptoms – do not get tested, and testing has been very difficult to obtain. for much of the spring, Farber said.
The new death and case counts come as coronavirus vaccinations continue statewide. By early Saturday afternoon, New York had vaccinated about 274,000 people, said Jack Sterne, a spokesperson for Cuomo.
New York was tied for fourth with Pennsylvania for the most vaccinations per capita of the country’s 15 most populous states, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention available to the public, as of 9 a.m. on Saturday, when the number of vaccinations in New York was listed at around 237,000.
New York’s vaccination rate was 1,218 per 100,000 people, lower than the 1,342 for Illinois, which was the best among the large states, but significantly higher than the large state with the lowest rate, Georgia, at 708, according to the CDC. Eight small states, including neighbors Connecticut and Vermont, had rates above 2,000.
Long Island positivity rates edged down on Friday and were down a few percentage points from Tuesday, when they were in double digits.
Another 1,409 residents of Nassau County tested positive for the coronavirus on Friday, for a positivity rate of 7.9%, up from 8% on Thursday and 10.5% on Tuesday.
“After peaking four days ago, we’ve had three days of slight dip in positivity, a pattern that I hope continues,” Nassau executive Laura Curran said in a statement.
In Suffolk, 1,786 tests came back positive, or 9.6%, compared to 9.7% Thursday and 12.8% Tuesday.
“Start 2021 on the right foot,” New York Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted on Saturday. “Practice social distancing, avoid large gatherings, wear a mask, and get tested.”
With Matthew Chayes
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David Olson covers health care. He has been with Newsday since 2015 and previously covered immigration, multicultural issues and religion at The Press-Enterprise in Southern California.
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