LI's COVID Positivity Rate Lowest In NY State: Hochul

LONG ISLAND, NY — With just a few weeks before the three-year mark since the first COVID-19 case was reported on Long Island in March 2020, the region, which has often topped the state in coronavirus positivity rates, now has the lowest positivity rate statewide.

On Wednesday, Gov. Kathy Hochul said that Long Island's COVID-19 positivity rate stood at 4.02 percent. New York City was the second lowest at 4.18 percent, with the highest positivity rate statewide reported in western New York, at 12.48 percent.

Dr. Sanjey Gupta, the chair of the emergency medicine department at Northwell Health's South Shore University Hospital in Bay Shore, spoke with Patch about what factors may have attributed to Long Island's most recent COVID-19 numbers.

"What we've been noticing is right now, Suffolk County looks to be one of the safest places in the state, as well as Nassau County and New York City," Gupta said.

From the beginning of the pandemic, the areas with highest population density saw the highest COVID rates, first, Gupta said. The same was true on Long Island and in New York City when the "tripledemic" of COVID, the flu, and RSV presented a triple threat in 2022, he said. "Our cases rose much earlier and our cases decline must faster than in other places where a population spread means cases are delayed," Gupta said.

Another reason for the drop in positivity, Gupta said, could be a combination of factors that have come into play, including vaccinations, those people who've previously had COVID, and the fact that the winter has been mild.

With warmer temperatures, people have not been as confined indoors as they might have been during a deep freeze, he said.

While an uptick of COVID cases cropped up after the holidays, after people gathered, those have since abated, he said.

Gupta added, however, that the new predominant strain of COVID-19, XBB.1.5, across the nation right now is highly transmissible. A variant of omicron, it can "hide from immunity," and impact even those who have been vaccinated. "It can invade those antibodies," he said.

That's why it's important to take heed as Super Bowl Sunday approaches, Gupta said. "If you are in a small, confined space with someone who has COVID, a space without good airflow, social distancing, or masking, COVID can really spread. We could see a spike," he said. "It's something to keep an eye on."

COVID symptoms take about three to seven days to emerge after exposure, Gupta reminded. He said those who are feeling ill or have symptoms should stay home.

The landscape of the coronavirus has changed since three years ago, Gupta said. Now, symptoms are likely to include sore throat, body aches, congestion, and sometimes a cough, but there are far fewer cases of severe pneumonia than were seen three years ago. Although there are still hospitalizations, he said, "There's more immunity floating around."

Looking back on the past three years, Gupta, who, with 23 years of emergency medicine has lived through 9/11, anthrax, Ebola, H1NI and more, said COVID-19 has left a lasting shadow on those who fought on the front lines.

"The imprint with COVID is that it constantly keeps us on our toes," he said. "We're always prepped for these sorts of epidemics but now, we're always kind of on edge."

Health care professionals see the pandemic from a different perspective, he said. "While much of the rest of the world is back to normal, we're still all masked. People still have a barrier — we don't have face-to-face exposure with our patients."

And, for medical personnel, Gupta said, "There's always a level of anxiety."

For many health care workers, the pandemic struggle is still very real, Gupta said. "The things that were unmasked during COVID — social, emotional, health disparities that came up, that's been persistent. For many health care workers, there's still long-standing PTSD, anxiety, depression, a lack of sleep, excessive nervousness. It's still there. A lot of people in health care really suffered."

He added: "It's gotten better the past six months. People are starting to feel back to normal."

Northwell, he added, has been "wonderful" about providing resources to health professionals as needed.

COVID, Gupta said, changed the world for everyone. "There's a different kind of zeitgeist that exists now. I hope we get better. I hope we continue to heal."