Cuomo: COVID-19 hospitalizations increase on LI

Gov. Andrew Cuomo says fewer people are being admitted to hospitals because of the coronavirus across much of New York -- but on Long Island, he says the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations has increased.
Terry Lynam, with Northwell Health, says the number of hospitalizations is going up at his 11 hospitals, but at a slower rate.
"Over the last two days, we've had 200 COVID-19 positive patients come in," he says.
Nassau County Executive Laura Curran says hospitalizations in Nassau increased overnight, but in Suffolk County, Executive Steve Bellone says hospitalizations in the past several days are actually down in the county.
"Those numbers have been climbing steadily and in the past week jumped significantly, but we're really starting to see those numbers go down, daily hospitalizations," says Bellone.
Lynam says the rate of discharges at Northwell hospitals are about the same, but the number of discharges has increased. He says that means they are well enough to go home.
The patient then can continue recovery at home - where they quarantine themselves until they're fully recovered.

Lynam estimates that in about a week we should hit the apex, or peak, of the pandemic.
"At that point, the question is, does it plateau or is it a case where it actually starts dropping?" he asks.
Northwell Health spokespeople say right now they have enough ventilators for patients, but they're looking for alternative spaces for beds if the number of hospitalizations spikes again.
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