LI's First Coronavirus Patient Is Uniondale Man, School Confirms

UNIONDALE, NY — The first Long Island man to test positive for the novel coronavirus is from Uniondale, the Uniondale School District confirmed. In a message to families, Superintendent William Lloyd confirmed the 42-year-old patient who tested positive for the virus was from the hamlet. He remains hospitalized at NYU Winthrop in Mineola.

"The district has been in close contact with Nassau County and New York State health officials, and we have been told that at the current time, there is no reason to take any additional precautionary or preventative measures than those we already have in place," Lloyd wrote. "The district will continue with its heightened building cleansing and sanitizing procedures and recommends that all students, faculty, staff and community members follow the preventative guidelines offered by the Center for Disease Control and the New York State Health Department."

The man who tested positive had underlying health conditions, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said at a news conference Thursday. He is recovering and will self-isolate himself in his home after he is released from the hospital.

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Eight New York coronavirus cases are connected to a series of positive tests in Westchester County. Cuomo and Nassau County Executive Laura Curran told reporters Thursday health teams traveled to the man's home and advised all his "close contacts" — such people he shares a home with or commutes with — to isolate themselves.

"The goal now is to avoid community spread," Curran said.

Worldwide, there have been more than 100,000 cases of coronavirus, known as COVID-19, spanning 79 countries, according to Johns Hopkins University. About 3,400 people have died. In the United States, coronavirus has killed at least 14 people and infected about 233 as of Friday morning, according to the organization. No deaths have been reported in New York.

Dr. Robert W. Amler, a dean at Westchester Medical College and former chief medical officer at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, told Patch in a question-and-answer session this week the risk is low.

"Overall, the risk in this area and in the rest of the United States, even in California and Washington state, the risk to the public is still low, I would even say very low," he said. "Even if exposure occurs, even if infection occurs, for the vast majority of people the risk is still low."

Dan Hampton contributed to this story.