7th Coronavirus Death At Long Island Retirement Home

GREENPORT, NY — A seventh death related to the new coronavirus was reported at the Peconic Landing retirement community Saturday.

"With great sadness, Peconic Landing reports a seventh death amongst our members in connection with COVID-19," Peconic Landing said in a news release. "Out of respect for the family, we provide the following information: The member was a 90-year-old woman of The Shores for Skilled Nursing. She passed Friday evening, March 27, after receiving treatment for symptoms of COVID-19 at Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital since March 14."

She had preexisting conditions, officials said.

"To the family and loved ones of this beloved member, we express our heartfelt sympathies and support during this tragic time," said Robert J. Syron, president and CEO of Peconic Landing.

Peconic Landing added: "We are in constant contact with County Executive Steve Bellone’s office and the New York State Department of Health. We are following the Department of Health guidelines to protect our members and our team as we battle this pandemic. We continue to follow all of the guidelines and recommendations provided by the Department of Health. These guidelines are the same treatment protocols used to minimize the transmission of the virus if an individual were to test positive."

Those protocols, the statement said, include the official closing of the Peconic Landing campus to nonessential staff and visitors on March 12, "self-isolation of our independent members in their cottages, patio homes and apartments, monitoring members for symptoms, taking staff temperatures daily, utilizing PPE (masks and gloves), and maintaining a 6-foot distance from members and staff, including the delivery of groceries, meals, and other items."

In addition, Peconic Landing said its management team, led by the facility's medical director and nurse practitioner, speaks with all members displaying any sign of illness daily and visits members for medical evaluations donning personal protective equipment on an as-needed basis.

In the Health Center, team members don gloves, masks, and any other PPE necessary while providing patient care; team members are monitored prior to and at the end of each shift, Peconic Landing said.

Team members are assigned to specific areas, and healthcare employees are not being shared between levels of care. Health Center areas also started instituting restrictions on visitation as of March 6, prior to regulations set forth by the Department of Health. "By isolating everyone, we are all doing our part to stop the spread of any potential virus transmission on our campus, officials said.

The news came as families of members at Peconic Landing are crying out for testing of all members and staff for coronavirus.

Syron told Patch that's just not possible. "We don't have the ability. We wish we could,"he said. "There just aren't enough tests. I have no control over it. If I could write a check to have every person tested, I would have written it."

The New York State Department of Health determines who is tested, he added.

Elected officials said Friday they would investigate to see if the requirements could be changed so the testing could ensue.

Concerns continue to mount at Peconic Landing.

As of Thursday, 13 Peconic Landing employees have been confirmed positive for coronavirus; six of those have since recovered, a release from the facility said. Initially, only three staff members were confirmed positive, but the increased number reflects a similar uptick in positive cases across the board countywide as testing ramps up.

The current number of positive diagnoses among members stands at 11, Peconic Landing said Saturday.

Countywide coronavirus uptick

Deaths related to coronavirus continue to rise countywide, as do the number of confirmed positive cases.

On Saturday, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said the numbers had risen "significantly," with a jump of 753 patients testing positive, bringing the total countywide to 4,138 out of 12,000 tested — 16 percent of those testing positive are over the age of 65.

A total of 409 patients are hospitalized, up 78 from Friday, and 139 of those are in the intensive care unit, up 20 from Friday.

Suffolk County saw a total of 7 deaths since Friday, and a total of 15 altogether in 2 days — with 37 deaths across the county as of Saturday.

The seven new deaths are as follows:

A man in his 60s who died at home on March 24 (no town was given); a female in her 90s with underlying conditions who died at Good Samaritan Hospital on March 26; a man in his 70s with underlying health conditions who died at Long Island Community Hospital on March 22; a man in his 50s with underlying conditions who died at Saint Catherine of Siena Medical Center on March 23; a man in his 60s with underlying conditions who died at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital on Friday; a resident of Atria South Setauket who died at Mather Hospital on March 26 — and the death reported above of a Peconic Landing resident in her 90s who died at ELIH.

The number of confirmed reported cases across Suffolk County as of Saturday are as follows (the breakdown includes information from 3,120 records that were available to Suffolk County at this time, officials said.)

• Islip — 699, up from 662 on March 27
• Huntington — 641, up from 594 on March 27
• Brookhaven — 517, up from 452 on March 27
• Babylon — 476, up from 424 on March 27
• Smithtown — 178, up from 157 on March 27
• Southold — 131, up from 129 on March 27
• Southampton — 72, up from 65 on March 27
• Riverhead — 60, up from 56 on March 27
• East Hampton — 20, no change from March 27
• Shelter Island — 1, no change from March 27
• Township not known — 325

A Suffolk County police officer who tested positive and was hospitalized has been released and is recovering at home; currently, 23 SCPD officers have tested positive for coronavirus, Bellone said.