Long Island officials are closely watching a slight increase in patients being treated for coronavirus at hospitals across the region in recent weeks.

As of Monday, 64 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 in Nassau and 35 hospital patients have been diagnosed with the virus in Suffolk, officials said. While nowhere near the April peak of about 2,500 in Nassau and 1,658 in Suffolk, virus hospitalizations are up from a low of 24 for each county in recent months.

“That can largely be attributed to infections in our community primarily originating in high school- and college-aged people,” Nassau County Executive Laura Curran told reporters Monday during a news conference in Mineola. “While the numbers are slightly higher, it’s nowhere near where we were at the worst days of the pandemic.”

As for the most serious COVID-19 hospitalizations, Nassau reported 16 patients in intensive care units and Suffolk had five in ICUs as of Monday. That’s compared to the peak of 592 in Nassau and 562 in Suffolk in April. Overall, there were nearly 1,000 people hospitalized with COVID-19 across New York State, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said on Monday. 

“They don’t do a lot of discharges over the weekend,” Cuomo said. “The good news in the 934 is the admissions were down over the weekend … Fewer people went into the hospitals.”

Officials are watching hospitalizations closely as health experts have warned of the possibility of a second wave this fall. LI’s coronavirus infection rate has hovered around 1 percent since the summer, although parts of the Five Towns area have seen spikes that prompted New York State to include some of Lawrence, Inwood, and Cedarhurst in a recent crackdown aimed at curbing the spread.

Suffolk officials noted that some hospital patients were admitted for other ailments or injuries and tested positive for coronavirus during their treatments.

Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone had cautioned last week that officials were “watching very closely” a trend of increasing hospitalizations in the county. Virus hospitalizations had hovered around 20 over the summer, but had been closer to 40 for a couple weeks. But there was good news this week.

“That trend has not continued,” he said on Monday.

Related Story: NY Limits Activity in Lawrence, Inwood Amid COVID-19 Hot Spot Response

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Suffolk County officials fined the Miller Place Inn for allegedly violating social distancing orders meant to curb the spread of coronavirus after 37 people who attended an over-capacity sweet 16 there were diagnosed with COVID-19.

County Department of Health Services investigators found that the 37 cases were among 81 people who attended the party at the venue on Sept. 25 despite the fact that gatherings are limited to 50 due to the pandemic, officials said.

“This was a super-spreader event,” Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone told reporters Tuesday during a news conference. “This cluster should serve as a stark reminder of the potential consequences of violating COVID-19 codes.”

Suffolk’s efforts to contain the outbreak comes as parts of the Five Towns are in Nassau are included in New York State’s Cluster Action Initiative aimed at tamping down virus hot spots with above-average infection rates.

Suffolk fined the catering hall $10,000 on Saturday for allegedly violating Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s executive orders prohibiting gatherings of larger than 50 people or 50 percent of a venue’s capacity, whichever is less. It also fined the venue $2,000 for violating the county’s sanitary code.

The county contacted the hosts of the event to obtain a copy of the guest list, which was provided voluntarily, officials said. The department quarantined the entire guest list, which included 49 students and 32 adults, and entered the contact information into the county’s contact tracing system. Of the 37 positive cases investigators identified, 29 were people who attended the party, seven were household contacts, and one was a close contact of an attendee. 

To date health officials have identified 334 contacts, 151 who were non-school affiliated and 183 who were school affiliated. Of those, 270 contact are under quarantine and 11 cases are in active isolation. Some have already completed their quarantine.

Eight schools have reported positive cases in connection to the party and 35 schools have at least one student who has been affected by the event, while one school has had as many as 74 students impacted. 

None of the cases resulted in hospitalizations or death and the outbreak appears to have been contained.

“There is no community spread at this time,” Bellone added.

Representatives for the Miller Place Inn did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

For more coronavirus coverage, visit longislandpress.com/coronavirus

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