The number of new confirmed Covid-19 cases reported in a single day in Suffolk County has dipped under 600 for the first time in nearly a month.
On Tuesday afternoon, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone announced there had been 587 new cases of Covid-19 in the previous 24 hours. On March 26, the last time the new-case figure was this low, the county registered 475.
Tuesday also marked the third straight day of a decline in the number of positive test results.
"For a long time, we had been looking at nearly or more than 1,000 a day pretty consistently, but that is down significantly," Mr. Bellone said. "We'll see if that continues."
The county had 28,701 positive cases as of about 1 p.m. on Tuesday, with 129 in East Hampton and 473 in Southampton. Statewide, the case count climbed to 251,690, meaning that Suffolk has about 11 percent of all Covid-19 patients in the state.
Twenty-nine more people have died in Suffolk, bringing the death toll to 888. "If there is any solace to be taken, it is that the increase is smaller than we have seen in a long time. . . . Hopefully, that is a sign," Mr. Bellone said.
Dr. Gregson Pigott, commissioner of the Suffolk County Department of Health Services, said about one in three patients has tested positive for Covid-19, or about 33 percent, in the last week. That rate is also down, having been as high as 43.7 percent two weeks ago.
At the five targeted hot-spot testing sites, he said just under 1,100 people have been tested so far. None of the results had come in yet as of Tuesday afternoon, and testing was temporarily suspended Tuesday due to inclement weather. Mr. Bellone previously said the county had partnered with HRH Care health clinics to provide more access to testing in communities that have been hard to reach because of language barriers and other factors.