Numbers reported daily by Nassau and Suffolk counties show that there are a total of 69,164 positive cases on Long Island as of Wednesday night.

 

Suffolk reported that there are 34,079 confirmed cases at this time and Nassau reported 35,085 Total Covid-19 positives.

 

Suffolk County has administered 89,168 Covid-19 tests, 37.3% of those tested were confirmed positive. Nassau County did not report on the total number of tests administered.

 

Nassau County Executive Laura Curran announced in a press conference on Wednesday that the county had 14 days of decreased Covid hospitalizations. Of those tested only 15% came back with a positive result.

 

Sadly, 2,802 people have died so far on Long Island from Covid-19. 1,155 deaths were in Suffolk County and 1,647 in Nassau County from Covid-19.

 

Suffolk County also reported that there are 1,047 patients hospitalized, down 35 from April 28. Of those, 369 are in the intensive care unit, which is a decrease of 35 patients from the day before.

 

Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said that hospital beds in the county are at 74% capacity and ICU beds are at 63% capacity.

 

In Nassau, there were 1,459 people hospitalized and of those 397 are in the ICU with 338 on ventilators. The county did report that 3 fewer people were on vents from the day before.

 

166 Covid patients have been discharged from the hospital between the two counties in the last 24 hours.

 

Nassau County Executive Curran said that she was encouraged by the decrease in hospitalizations over the two week period and the 14 days downward trajectory of people who test positive for Covid, calling them milestones. These numbers check two of three boxes in CDC protocol to phase one reopening. The third box is ramped up testing, which Curran said the county is working toward.

 

According to Curran, there are two types of testing. The first is viral testing to tell if you are positive or negative for Covid. The second is antibody testing to see if you already had the disease and got better.

 

The county will partner with Northwell Health to test first responders and essential healthcare workers to begin testing for antibodies starting next week.

 

“We waited to get the right test,” she said. “We believe that we got that from Northwell.”

 

The test will be by appointment and voluntary. The blood draw test (as opposed to a finger prick) are more reliable than other types and tests for how many antibodies are in a person’s body.

 

The testing should be ready to begin early next week.

 

“We hope it will give us all a larger understanding of community spread and herd immunity,” Curran said.