The number of Covid-19 patients in Suffolk County hospitals increased by 10 on Monday, and a number from Tuesday was not yet available. The increase may just be a "one day thing," said Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone at his daily briefing.
The good news from Monday, he said, was that there was a decline in new hospitalizations. A steady rate of new hospitalizations that is below 2 per 100,000 residents per day is one of the key criteria the county must meet before it can reopen. That benchmark was reached on Monday, and now the county must sustain it for 14 days, Mr. Bellone said. "May 25 is the earliest we can meet that metric," he said.
Another requirement for reopening is having 30 percent of hospital beds available. As of Monday, there were 894 available hospital beds out of 2,965, which puts the county right at the 30-percent mark, said Mr. Bellone.
The number of positive cases increased by 243, the number of patients in intensive care units decreased by 2, and 26 more people had died of Covid-19, bringing the overall number of fatalities to 1,680.