Customers at Suffolk restaurants may have been exposed to COVID-19, health officials say

Visitors to two Suffolk restaurants, one at Mount Sinai and the other at Wading River, may have been exposed to COVID-19 shortly before Thanksgiving, county health officials said.

The two restaurants are Señor Taco Mexican Grill & Bar in Mount Sinai and Phil’s Restaurant in Wading River, health officials said in a statement on Wednesday. Representatives of the two establishments were not immediately available.

At Señor Taco, the possible exhibition took place on November 20 and 24. At Phil’s restaurant, the possible exhibit took place on Nov. 20, 21, 23 and 24, health officials said.

Those potentially exposed should monitor themselves for symptoms of the coronavirus for 14 days after visiting restaurants, said the Suffolk health department, which encouraged them to get tested.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, symptoms of COVID-19 include fever, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle aches or pains, headaches, new loss of taste or smell, sore throat, stuffy or runny nose. , nausea or vomiting or diarrhea.

Infections on the rise in New York

Coronavirus infections continue to rise in New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Thursday, further evidence, he said, that a second wave of the virus is hitting the city.

The rate of positive test results, on average over the seven days ending Tuesday, is 5.19%, with 1,962 new people infected, he said.

Also on the rise: the number of people hospitalized – 174 – with suspected COVID-19.

“What we’re seeing now, more than we’ve seen for a long, long time, unfortunately, is that these three indicators are all moving in the wrong direction,” he said.

His comments came a day after Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced that New York would receive its first batch of coronavirus vaccine from pharmaceutical company Pfizer on December 15, with enough doses to cover 170,000 people.

The state also expects vaccines to arrive from biotech company Moderna later this month, and other tranches from both companies to continue to arrive on an ongoing basis, Cuomo said.

The deliveries will be part of a nationwide immunization campaign that will deliver about 40 million doses, enough to immunize 20 million people – about 6% of the U.S. population, Cuomo said. The second dose is taken 21 days after the first.

Medical experts estimate that it will be until June to September for a critical mass of people – 75% to 85% of the population – to be vaccinated to allow the country to regain some sense of normalcy, the governor said. .

On the same day he announced the first vaccine shipments, Long Island saw its number of new confirmed COVID-19 cases skyrocket overnight to levels not seen since the darkest days of the pandemic in April. . The increasing trend in infections worries experts.

At the end of last month, the region surpassed 1,000 new confirmed cases per day for the first time since April. According to figures released on Wednesday, the number climbed to nearly 1,800.

The number of new confirmed cases in Nassau according to Tuesday’s test results was 826 and 966 in Suffolk, for a total of 1,792.

This came close to some of the numbers from mid-April, when the pandemic was in its worst time. As of April 11, for example, Suffolk had 933 new confirmed cases. The next day, Nassau had 805.

In the summer, each county often had less than 60 new confirmed cases per day.

Cuomo has warned the state to prepare for an increase in cases from Thanksgiving and during the holidays at least until mid-January.

With Matthew Chayes

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