Long Island reached “a milestone and a very important one” on Wednesday, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said on Tuesday, one day ahead of the region’s launch of the first of a four-phase reopening of commercial activity.
With new infections, hospitalizations, and deaths due to the Covid-19 pandemic trending downward, Mr. Bellone said, “Moving into phase-one reopening of our economy after more than two months of basically shutting down whole segments of our economy to flatten the curve, prevent the hospital system from being overwhelmed, and reduce . . . the number of people affected and ultimately die. . . . The public did that.”
By Wednesday afternoon, the county had reported just 59 new confirmed cases of Covid-19 from the day before, bringing the total in the county to around 40,000.
The number of people hospitalized had dropped by 30 to just over 300 and the number of people in intensive care units had dropped by 12, to 94 countywide. Nine people were discharged, and there were 10 new deaths.
Thanks to social distancing, wearing of face coverings in public, staying at home unless otherwise necessary, and proper hygiene practices, “we significantly flattened that curve, it’s been on a downward trajectory for a number of weeks now,” Mr. Bellone had said on Tuesday, and the trend continued on Wednesday as the first phase of reopenings began.
Industries allowed to operate now include construction, agriculture, fishing, hunting, forestry, manufacturing, wholesale trade, and retail for curbside or in-store pickup.
“We have been through a lot,” Mr. Bellone said. “These have been incredibly trying times, devastating in so many different ways for all of us. It’s been more than 80 days now, but we have come a long way.” Wednesday’s reopening “is a reflection of just how far we’ve come and a test of reopening. . . . I am very confident that we can do it in a way that we’re not going to see a major spike in the number of infections.”
The county will “show that we will have the pathway forward to continue reopening the other parts of our economy as quickly as possible,” he predicted.
Although the phases of reopening are to happen between intervals of at least two weeks, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, Mr. Bellone said, has spoken about “the possibility that that can be shortened, depending on the progress happening and the information that we learn” both within the county and in other jurisdictions that are reopening. “The one thing we have become very accustomed to here is there is nothing set in stone, particularly because everything about this is new. Everything is learning as you go along and adjusting to that as you take in new information.”
The region’s “control room” will monitor metrics and watch for any changing trends in infections rates, hospitalizations, or deaths from Covid-19, he said.
With Reporting by Jamie Bufalino