Coronavirus: Officials React To Idea Of Ban On LIers At NY Events

LONG ISLAND, NY — Long Island officials reacted Thursday to a tit for tat suggestion by one New York City elected official who said if NYC residents can't head to Long Island beaches over Memorial Day weekend, Suffolk and Nassau residents should be banned from SantaCon and other Big Apple events.

Also, Long Island has dropped a notch in the race to meet the seven metrics necessary for reopening the economy — but both Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone and Nassau County Executive Laura Curran said they believe the dip won't stand in the way of ongoing regional efforts to reopen safely.

Bellone was joined by Curran and Westchester County Executive George Latimer at his press briefing Thursday; the three discussed how they'd "worked closely together throughout the pandemic" and shared ideas from the start.

"There is no playbook for this," Bellone said, adding that having "two great partners" was critically important.

The three discussed reopening beaches for Memorial Day weekend and the decision to "prioritize these facilities for our residents," especially as New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo mandated that beaches can only be filled to 50 percent capacity.

The move to open Long Island beaches to residents only came after Mayor Bill de Blasio decided that New York City beaches would remain closed. In a tit-for-tat response, at least one elected official suggested keeping Long Islanders out of New York City events such as SantaCon or the St. Patrick's Day parade.

When asked what he thought about New York City possibly retaliating and closing off events to Long Island residents, Bellone said, "I suspect New York City will continue to welcome the dollars from Long Island residents enjoying activities in the city."

Both he and Curran assured that once NYC opens its own beaches, Suffolk and Nassau will open theirs to NYC residents again, as well. The chief concern, Bellone said, was the capacity issue. His main objective was to keep county beaches open for residents who have been cooped up and need a place to spend time outdoors with their families during the holiday weekend.

The lawmakers assured designating the beaches for residents only had nothing to do with any concern that NYC residents might spark a spread of coronavirus on Long Island.

"It's not about fear," Curran said. "It's about making sure residents have priority because they pay for it."

Bellone added: "I want to be clear that this has nothing to do with New York City residents and everything to do with the emergency situation we are in, and capacity. Just as New York City will welcome people from Nassau County and Suffolk County, we will welcome New York City residents out to Nassau County and Suffolk County." Bellone also said he gave de Blasio "credit. He has indicated that he understands our decision now to make our beaches resident only at this moment — while he continues to keep his beaches closed."

The county executives said that large fireworks displays and concerts were canceled this summer.

Beachgoers across New York State who hit the sand over the weekend will have to adhere to new protocols, such as social distancing and mask wearing, as well as the 50 percent occupancy mandate.

In Suffolk County, residents will need to show a driver's license or a green key card for identification. For a full list of protocols, click here.

A drop in metrics

According to New York State's regional monitoring dashboard Thursday, Long Island dropped to meeting four of the seven required metrics; as of Wednesday, it had been meeting five. The new metric that it failed to meet pertains to the share of hospital beds available; the necessary number the region needs to meet is 30 percent. Long Island also has not yet metrics involving either a 14 day decline in hospital deaths or fewer than five deaths on a three day rolling average; the region also has to meet a contact tracing metric.

Curran said she said the drop could be attributed to the fact that elective surgeries are now allowed back in hospitals; she said patients are now headed to hospitals who are not COVID-19 positive and are "feeling confident about accessing care" for other physical issues.

Bellone agreed that the newly allowed elective surgeries was the reason for the failure to meet the metric: "Laura and I would agree that we don't believe this is going to be a metric that is going to hold us back. We believe we will be able to handle this, and we will address this — it will not prevent us from moving toward Phase 1 of reopening."

Number of new cases rises again

As of Thursday, the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in Suffolk County was 38,553, Bellone said, with an increase of 142, a higher uptick than has been seen in some time. "We'd like to see this number lower," he said; up until Thursday the number had been below 100.

The number of positive antibody tests stood at 11,461. As of May 19, the number of individuals hospitalized with coronavirus was 453; there were 129 patients in ICU as of May 19, reflecting a decline of 29.

Hospital capacity as of Thursday stood at 2,937 beds countywide, with 886 available, or 70 percent; there were 574 ICU beds with 192 available, or 67 percent.

Over the past 24 hours, 53 patients went home — and an additional 11 individuals lost their lives to coronavirus, bringing the total over 1,800, to 1,802.

The confirmed number of cases of coronavirus by town is as follows:

Islip: 12,359

Brookhaven: 9,503

Babylon: 7,012

Huntington: 5,108

Smithtown: 2,461

Southampton: 1,000

Riverhead: 676 )

Southold: 408

East Hampton: 275

Shelter Island: 8