‘We expect the rates will continue to go down’
The number of positive test results on Saturday were the lowest since Dec. 5, as was the single-day positivity rate on Long Island, state health department data shows.
“Barring any surprises, we expect the rates will continue to go down,” Dr. David Hirschwerk, medical director of North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, told Newsday’s David Olson on Sunday. “There still is a fair amount of transmission, but it appears that each day there’s less and less.”
Experts usually focus on the seven-day positivity rate, and that rate for Long Island continued to fall to 8.24%, down from 8.68% on Friday and nearly 27% on Jan. 5.
But the rate remains far higher than in the late spring and early summer, when it was under 1%.
Hospitalizations also continued to decline. On Long Island, there were 1,116 people hospitalized with COVID-19 on Saturday, compared with 1,221 on Friday and a winter peak of 2,254 on Jan. 11.
The number of new positives reported today: 177 in Nassau, 210 in Suffolk, 1,445 in New York City and 5,115 statewide.
And, ICYMI: The indoor mask mandate was extended. Gov. Kathy Hochul on Friday extended it for two more weeks; it had been set to expire on Tuesday.
Search a map of new cases and view charts like the one below showing the latest trends in vaccinations, testing, hospitalizations, deaths and more.
See more coronavirus headlines below.
Erin Serpico is an assistant web producer who joined Newsday in November 2018. Originally from New Jersey, she now covers community events and produces local content for newsday.com while also helping run the homepage.
