Lowest Daily COVID Rates on Long Island
New coronavirus cases on Long Island fell this weekend to their lowest levels in nearly a year, with just 45 cases reported across Nassau and Suffolk counties on Sunday, according to state health data.
Nassau had a 0.5% positivity rate on Sunday, with 26 new positives out of 5,292 test results, state data shows. Suffolk had a 0.3% rate, with 19 new positives of 6,019 tests.
Long Island’s case numbers Sunday were in line with last summer’s lows, the state data shows. One of the last days Nassau tracked such a low number of new positives was July 5, when the county registered 22 positives. Suffolk's new positives Sunday fell below summer lows, such as the 21 positives reported on Aug. 23.
The daily caseload had also been tracked near those levels when the coronavirus was first detected on Long Island and COVID-19 testing capacity was limited, data shows. "Our COVID-19 positivity is at record lows and there is no doubt that it is driven by Nassau’s outstanding vaccination rates," Nassau County Executive Laura Curran said in a statement. "Nassau continues to lead the way among large counties in New York — nearly 75% of adults have at least one shot."
In Nassau, 74.9% of residents ages 18 and over have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, while 52.6% of the total population has been fully vaccinated, according to state data. In Suffolk, 67.5% of residents ages 18 and over have received at least one dose while 46.9% of the total population is fully vaccinated. Nassau's new positives ticked up slightly from 24 on Saturday, while Suffolk's dropped significantly from 108, according to state data. But there were 3,675 more test results reported on Long Island on Saturday than on Sunday, data shows.
Long Island's seven-day positivity rate was 0.61% on Sunday, below the state's rate and record low of 0.67%, according to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's office.
The state on Sunday reported 494 new positives from 71,242 test results, a lower number of total test results than is typical, data shows. The state has reported more than 200,000 test results some days.
The state's positivity rate has declined for eight consecutive weeks as more than 19 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered, Cuomo said.
"We continue to make progress and we are on the verge of defeating COVID-19 for good, but it's vital that we continue to get as many shots in arms as we can," Cuomo said in a statement.
Even with record low cases, there were 18 coronavirus-related deaths in the state on Sunday, including one in Nassau and one in Suffolk, data shows. There were 1,032 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 throughout the state.
Also Sunday, a midnight curfew on indoor food and drink service expired. A 1 a.m. curfew on catered events was also lifted.
"Like every other milestone of our reopening, the end of curfew for indoor dining is the result of New Yorkers banding together, practicing safety precautions and getting vaccinated, so we can defeat the virus and work our way towards a new normal," Cuomo said in a statement.
