While confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Suffolk County jumped by more than 1,200 to 26,702, hospitalizations in the county have been down for the past three days, indicating a possible plateau, according to County Executive Steve Bellone.
During his daily briefing on Saturday, the county executive said hospitalizations had dropped by 24 for a total of 1,538. The number of patients in intensive care unit beds had also decreased by 3 to 518. He said intubations were down as well, but did not provide a specific figure. "That is significant," he said. "We will see if that trend continues, but that is good news."
New cases in the county had been averaging about 1,000 per day recently, he noted.
In the county's hospitals, 3,416 regular beds and 739 I.C.U. beds were occupied. The county had a total of 774 beds and 143 I.C.U. beds available as of Friday. There were 123 hospital discharges on Friday.
For the second day in a row, Mr. Bellone has not been able to provide updated information from the state for the total number of deaths in the county. Mr. Bellone said the county will keep checking to see if those figures are reported later on Saturday. His staff will also contact the state to find out the cause of the delay.
In other news, he cited a Newsday report that banking institutions may not be honoring the relief efforts put in place by the state and federal governments for mortgage repayment. He is asking county residents to call 311 to report cases where they have not received assistance or relief if they have found themselves unable to pay due to unemployment or other economic hardship.
Noting that enforcement of these programs is up to the state and federal governments, he said he will still highlight which financial institutions "are doing the right thing during this unprecedented time" and which are not, placing the names of the banks on the county's website.
He has also spoken to Senator Charles Schumer's office to voice his concerns about the inability of some Main Street small businesses to receive the promised relief outlined in the Paycheck Protection Program and asked him to urge Congress and President Donald J. Trump to make sure any additional money going into the program will be delivered to the small businesses that really need it.
Mr. Bellone thanked the senator for supporting efforts to make sure local governments do not become bankrupt. "The only level of government that can do this is the federal government," he said. It has the resources to spend money to prop up the economy during this crisis. "To the extent the federal government does not do it, the message to all of us on the local level is that you have to take care of it yourself. You bear the burden. This is wrong. It's unacceptable."
He also said that he saw that people out in public were taking seriously the new face covering requirements enacted by the state on Friday night. "We'll be living with this for a good period of time," he said. As plans begin to take shape to reopen the economy, the face coverings "will no doubt be an important part of that" in the effort to prevent another spike in new cases of coronavirus.