More than 6,200 North Shore residents had tested positive for the coronavirus as of Wednesday, according to figures from the Nassau County Department of Health.
According to county figures, 52,173 people had tested positive for the coronavirus as of Tuesday. A total of 2,224 people had died as a result of the virus as of Wednesday, according to county figures.
These figures represent totals since the pandemic began in mid-March.
Nassau County’s infection rate was 2.8 percent as of Wednesday, while Long Island had a rate of 3.4 percent, according to state Health Department statistics.
The figures, broken down by community on the county’s interactive map, were the most up-to-date figures available as of Wednesday morning.
“As COVID-19 cases spike to record numbers nationwide, let’s remain vigilant and proactive,” Nassau County Executive Laura Curran said. “Nassau County will continue to respond to microspikes — wherever they may pop up — with testing, tracing and community outreach.”
Of the 52,173 people in the county who had tested positive for the virus as of Wednesday, 1,435 reside on the Great Neck peninsula.
Areas such as the Village of Kings Point, the Village of Great Neck and the Village of Great Neck Plaza have seen recent upticks in confirmed virus cases, according to the county Health Department. The Village of Great Neck had 428 cases, Kings Point had 279 cases, and the Plaza had 260 cases as of Wednesday, according to county figures.
Because of the increase in cases, Curran joined with other local officials in announcing a new drive-thru testing facility at the North Shore Hebrew Academy in Kings Point on Monday.
The testing facility, located at 16 Cherry Lane, is free to residents who schedule an appointment Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. According to officials, testing will be available to anyone 8 years or older. The consent of a parent or guardian is required for anyone 18 or younger.
Community members will remain in their cars and receive nasal swabs for two diagnostic tests. After the swabs, residents will remain in their vehicles to await the test results and educational materials.
The New Hyde Park area accounted for 1,355 of the North Shore’s cases, with North New Hyde Park having the most confirmed positives, 515, out of any analyzed area. The villages of Floral Park, with 375 cases, and New Hyde Park, with 358 cases, were also among the top six villages in terms of most positive tests, according to Health Department statistics.
Municipalities and unincorporated areas 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 865 cases, according to county statistics.
The villages of Mineola, with 514 cases, and Garden City, with 420 cases, accounted for most of the area’s 1,150 cases.
Curran, in a Friday news conference, said she was worried about the recent increase of coronavirus cases in the Port Washington area. The area’s 585 cases are almost 10 percent of the total North Shore positive tests. The town-governed areas of Port Washington, with 335 cases, also have a daily increase of 2.93 positive tests per day, according to county figures.
Manhasset, which has remained comparatively low since the beginning of the pandemic in mid-March, had 355 cases, with a majority coming from town-governed areas.
The Village of Roslyn’s 164 cases may not seem high compared with other North Shore areas, but the cases per 1,000 residents, 57.5, is one of the highest rates in Nassau County, according to Health Department figures.
According to figures provided by the U.S. Census Bureau, the estimated population of the Village of Roslyn was 2,882 in 2018. According to Roslyn Mayor John Durkin, the rate of infection reported by Newsday and the population provided by the census is inaccurate.
Durkin attributed some of the cases to people with underlying health conditions at the village’s two senior homes, the Atria and Assisted Living Roslyn.
Throughout New York, more than 536,000 people had tested positive for the coronavirus as of Wednesday, according to state figures. Of that total, 26,005 people had died. In New York City, 273,000 people had contracted the virus, with nearly 20,000 positive cases resulting in deaths.
