As Nassau County nears its completion of seven state-mandated metrics to reopen, nearly 4,000 North Shore residents have tested positive for the novel coronavirus as of Monday evening, according to figures from the Nassau County Department of Health.
The statistics, broken down by community on the county’s interactive map, were the most up-to-date figures available as of Wednesday morning.
Last week, the confirmed number of coronavirus cases throughout North Shore communities was 3,754. That number increased by 245 over the week, for a total of 3,999 confirmed cases.
Municipalities that stretch into more than one North Shore area such as Flower Hill, Herricks, Albertson, Garden City Park, Searingtown and North Hills were counted separately and accounted for 591 cases, an increase of 35 from last week.
A total of 743 residents throughout the Great Neck peninsula had tested positive for the virus, an increase of 43 from last week.
The centralized villages, such as the Village of Great Neck and Great Neck Plaza, account for 364 of the area’s confirmed cases, an increase of 6 from the previous week. Kings Point still ranks third in the area’s confirmed cases with 96, another increase of 6.
Mineola, Garden City and Williston Park combined for a total of 671 confirmed cases, which accounts for almost all of the area’s total of 693 cases. The surrounding areas include Westbury with 474 cases, Uniondale with 1,073 cases, and Hempstead with 2,035, the most cases in one village in the county for the fourth consecutive week.
Port Washington has just 366 of the North Shore’s cases. Of that total, 210 are from town-governed areas and 90 in Manorhaven.
Manhasset, with 231 confirmed cases, has closer proximity to areas with more positive cases, but had the lowest increase of cases over the past week with 17. Roslyn has 344 confirmed cases, and has two villages with more than 100 (Village of Roslyn: 133, Roslyn Heights: 119).
The town-governed parts of Manhasset, with 118 confirmed cases, along with North Hills, Flower Hill and Herricks, made up a majority of the area’s cases. The villages of Munsey Park, Plandome, Plandome Manor and Plandome Heights accounted for 55 cases, four more than last week.
According to the map, the New Hyde Park area has a total of 1,031 confirmed cases of the virus. North New Hyde Park, just south of Manhasset Hills and Lake Success, is the area with the most confirmed cases at 412, an increase of 22 from the past week.
The areas surrounding New Hyde Park were still hit even harder by the virus, such as Elmont’s 1,220 cases and Franklin Square’s 737 cases.
As of Tuesday night, according to figures provided by the county’s Department of Health, 38,434 county residents had tested positive for the coronavirus. A total of 1,991 people had died. Total hospitalizations, 697, and patients on ventilators, 190, both have significantly decreased over the past three weeks, according to the figures.
During a Friday news conference, Nassau County Executive Laura Curran said she expects Nassau County to begin a phased reopening. As of Tuesday, Long Island had met five of the seven sets of criteria mandated by the state to begin the phased reopening.
Curran said she has been encouraged by the region’s ability to get within two metrics of phased reopening after ranking last in achieved metrics on May 8.
“We are definitely going in the right direction and we seem to be going in the right direction rather quickly,” Curran said.
CUOMO EXTENDS FILING UNDER CHILD VICTIMS ACT
In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced a filing extension under the Child Victims Act, which was set to expire on Aug. 14, according to state officials.
The Child Victims Act was passed on Jan. 28, 2019, and allows survivors of sexual abuse to file criminal charges until age 28 and civil charges until age 55. The act also created a one-year window for survivors to reintroduce claims that exceeded the statute of limitations.
Cuomo announced that the five-month extension for survivors to file was extended to Jan. 14, 2021.
“Given the shutdown, many aspects of society have been closed down and are less operational, the court system is among them,” Cuomo said. “Because of the reduction in court services, we want to extend that window and we’ll extend it for an additional five months until January 14 because people need access to the courts to make their claim.”
“We applaud Governor Cuomo’s decision to give survivors of child sexual abuse more time to come forward and file their cases during these unprecedented and difficult times,” Attorney Jeff Anderson of Jeff Anderson & Associates said.
Anderson’s firm, based in New York City, filed 19 lawsuits within the Diocese of Rockville Centre when the window to file opened last August.
Institutions that were implicated included Chaminade High School in Mineola, Our Lady of Fatima in Manorhaven, St. Mary’s in Manhasset, and St. Ignatius Retreat House in Manhasset.
State Sen. Anna Kaplan (D-Great Neck) lauded Cuomo’s decision to extend the filing for the legislation she co-sponsored last year.
“I applaud the Governor’s decision to take action on this matter today, and I look forward to working with him to enact another piece of legislation I’m co-sponsoring that will extend the lookback window by another year to ensure survivors have had an opportunity to seek justice, and to ensure child sexual abusers are held accountable under the law,” Kaplan said in a statement.
