NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- Suffolk County is seeing a continued spike in COVID-19 cases, County Executive Steve Bellone said Tuesday, as the region once again reported more than 1,000 new positive test results.
Of the 17,883 COVID-19 test results that came back in the county on Monday, 1,164, or 6.5 percent, were positive, the health department said.
At a news briefing, Bellone warned residents to take precautions as the holiday season continues.
“What we have witnessed over the last couple of weeks… as we are in the middle of the holiday season, is that the cases are spiking,” he said. “And we are in that second wave that we’ve talked about from the very beginning.”
“This past week, we had four days in which we had more than 1,000 cases,” he added. “Put that in perspective: just two weeks ago, we were at half of that, 500 cases.”
On Nov. 1, meanwhile, the county reported just 66 new cases, Bellone said.
“So think about that,” he said. “That’s how far we’ve come in just the last five weeks.”
As of Monday, 382 people in the county were hospitalized with COVID-19, according to the health department. The county also reported six new virus-related deaths.
“Our focus now is doing everything that we can to control the virus… as we continue through the holiday season,” Bellone said. “We need to do everything we can to limit those gatherings, follow the guidance, socially distance, [and] wear those face coverings.”