Suffolk COVID-19 Cases Trending Downward

The wave of Omicron variant COVID-19 cases appears to have crested in Suffolk County, as the number of new diagnoses has begun to wane following the holiday surge largely fueled by family gatherings.

Long Island had an 11% seven-day average percentage of positive COVID-19 test results reported over the three-day period ending on January 23, the most recent date for which New York State health data was available as of press time. That was down from a high of more than 26% in the first week of January.

“To put it in perspective how quickly the Omicron wave swept over us, on Christmas Eve we had 416 people in our hospitals in Suffolk County. That number rose to 737 just one week later on New Year’s Day,” Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone told the Long Island Association’s State of the Region on January 21. “I’ve never seen the numbers move that quickly.”

Suffolk reported more than 5,000 COVID-19 cases in a single day in early January, but that figure dropped to less than 1,000 by the end of the month. Bellone said the demand for testing at community-based sites has decreased as a result.

“That has now started to come down as we have seen the numbers come back down,” he said. “We have peaked, which is a very good thing.”