If Long Island Were A State, It Would Rank Second in Coronavirus Cases

The number of people diagnosed with coronavirus on Long Island has increased to more than 5,000, which is higher than the second-most impacted state nationwide as of Wednesday morning, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said.

LI’s 5,545 cases include 3,285 in Nassau County and 2,260 in Suffolk County, putting the regional total as higher than New Jersey and California, which had 3,675 and 2,644 cases, respectively, behind New York State’s 30,811 cases, including 285 deaths. Including Brooklyn’s 4,656 cases and the 5,066 in Queens in LI’s total put it at 15,267. There were 58,998 cases nationwide Wednesday, including 798 fatalities.

“As of yesterday, about 28 percent of all testing nationwide has been performed by New York State,” Cuomo told reporters during a news conference in Albany Wednesday.

He has said the infection rate is spiking despite efforts to restrict work, school, and socialization, prompting officials to increase estimates of how many hospital beds to 140,000 — nearly triple the state’s current 53,000 beds — will be required when the virus peaks in two or three weeks.

The current hospitalization rate is about 15 percent, with 80 percent of cases self resolving, but seniors and those with underlying health issues remain most at risk of succumbing to the virus. Nassau County Executive Laura Curran reported 17 people have died of COVID-19 in the county as of Wednesday and Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone reported the 20 fatalities in his county.

The latest breakdown for communities don’t include the latest state figures, but those impacted in Nassau can be found here. The latest Suffolk breakdown was as follows: 461 in the Town of Islip, 423 in the Town of Huntington, 330 in the Town of Brookhaven, 306 in the Town of Babylon, 130 in the Town of Smithtown, 111 in the Town of Southold, 47 in the Town of Riverhead, 40 in the Town of Southampton, 13 in the Town of East Hampton, two in the Town of Shelter Island, and 182 to be determined.