Coronavirus: Nassau Declares State Of Emergency Amid 70 Cases

MINEOLA, NY — Nassau County declared a state of emergency Friday as the county continues to grapple with the new coronavirus. The number of infected people keeps rising — there were 70 confirmed cases in Nassau County as of Friday afternoon. The majority are in Hempstead.

Of those people, 10 were hospitalized Friday and three were in serious condition. There have been no deaths in Nassau County, but New York had its first reported death.

Nassau County Executive Laura Curran said she declared the state of emergency to help the county access resources and authorize emergency spending. As part of the declaration, all county-owned and operated indoor leisure and recreation facilities will close, including the Aquatic Center, Cantiague Ice Rink, Twin Rinks, The Carlton at Eisenhower Park, the Firefighter Museum, the Cradle of Aviation, the Long Island Children's Museum, and many more museums.

Curran also closed the county's traffic and parking violations agency to the public and ordered a temporary stop on enforcement of boot and tow programs. She also ordered a temporary stop on evictions by the sheriff's department. Many county offices will close or change hours.

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To curtail the spread of the virus, Curran said many nonessential county workers will be told to stay home. The reduction in onsite employees will also affect the hours offices are open. The updated hours will be available on the county's website. Per state law, the measure will be reassessed every five days.

The staffing reductions will not affect the health department or police, Curran said.

Drive-through testing may come to the county soon, County Health Commissioner Dr. Lawrence Eisenstein said. The first drive-through testing facility opened Friday in New Rochelle. If that program proves successful, he said, Nassau will consider something similar.

Despite more tests being conducted, he said, there are strict guidelines on who can get tested. At a new conference Friday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the state received permission from the federal government to start performing tests. With 28 private labs around the state being contracted, Cuomo said the state could perform about 6,000 tests a day. To date, the state has performed about 3,000 tests.

Widespread school closings are considered a last resort, officials said, and are actually fairly low on the list of measures in the mass pandemic plan laid out by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Studies have shown closing schools does not prevent the spread of a virus, Eisenstein said. When children are told to stay home from school, they instead tend to go other places and can easily infect family members.

Additionally, many health employees and first responders have children in schools. And if schools are closed, it could keep those vital personnel home from work.

As of Thursday afternoon, there were 440 positive cases of coronavirus, or COVID-19, in New York. The following are the number of coronavirus cases from the state Health Department:

• Westchester County: 158
• New York City: 154
• Nassau County: 70
• Suffolk County: 28
• Rockland County: 9
• Ulster County: 5
• Dutchess County: 3
• Saratoga County: 3
• Orange County: 3
• Albany County: 2
• Monroe County: 1
• Delaware County: 1
• Herkimer County: 1
• Broome County: 1
• Schenectedy County: 1

Concerns over coronavirus — which has infected more than 127,000 people worldwide and caused about 4,700 deaths — have had far-reaching effects. In a series of drastic moves, the NBA, NHL and MLS suspended their seasons and the NCAA canceled March Madness tournaments. The PGA Tour canceled the Players Championship after the first round. The virus also prompted President Donald Trump to restrict travel from Europe.

Cuomo banned gatherings of 500 or more people, shutting down Broadway. Events, gatherings or businesses with fewer than 500 individuals in attendance will be required to cut capacity by 50 percent. Exceptions will be made for spaces where individuals do not make sustained close contact, such as schools, hospitals, public buildings, mass transit, grocery stores and retail stores. Cuomo also banned all visitors to nursing homes and senior care facilities.

"This is not going to be a quick situation," Cuomo said. "This is going to be weeks or months. This is not going to be returned to normal next week. So prepare yourself."

Officials said mass transit is somewhat "self-correcting" for the virus, as ridership plummeted across the system. The Long Island Rail Road has seen a 31 percent drop in riders while Metro North saw ridership fall by half, officials said. The New York City subway system ridership dropped 18 percent.

Westchester County, and specifically New Rochelle, has the highest concentration of cases in the country. To combat that, Cuomo enacted a one-mile containment area around the highest cluster of cases. All schools and large gathering areas in the radius were closed, and the National Guard was deployed to distribute food and help in cleaning public spaces.

Cuomo also declared a state of emergency in response to the virus — making New York one of 13 states to do so. Cuomo said it will allow him to more freely send resources to affected areas and make it easier for the state to purchase supplies it needs to combat the virus.

The state is assessing health care facilities to make sure they have the capacity to handle patients in case more people need to be hospitalized, Cuomo said. One measure the state may take is to cancel elective surgeries, which Cuomo said can make up 25 to 35 percent of patients in a hospital at any given time.

Nassau County has been taking action against businesses that are price gouging in the face of the virus. Eight businesses were fined thousands of dollars for increasing the price on products like face masks and hand sanitizer, as well as selling masks individually when they are not labeled for individual sale. Anyone who suspects a business of price gouging should email the county at PriceGouging@NassauCountyny.gov.

Cuomo also directed the state's Department of State's Consumer Protection Division to investigate price gouging. Anyone who suspects a business of doing so should call the state's toll-free hotline at 1-800-697-1220.

Additionally, all SUNY and CUNY campuses will switch to distance learning. Students in dormitories will not be forced to go home, but it may be encouraged, officials said. The change will be in effect for the rest of the semester. It may also mean that many graduation ceremonies won't happen, school officials said.

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