SUFFOLK COUNTY

County working to reach 7 state metrics for reopening

Governor Andrew Cuomo delivers his daily press briefing on COVID-19.

Darren McGee- Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo

Posted Thursday, May 14, 2020 9:28 am

THE SEVEN METRICS

1: Region must show a sustained decline in the three-day rolling average of total net hos- pitalizations (the total number of people in the hospital each day) over the course of a 14-day period.

2: Region must show a sustained decline in the three-day rolling average of daily hospital deaths over the course of a 14-day period.

3: Region must experience fewer than 2 new hospitalizations per 100,000 residents, mea- sured on a three-day rolling average.

4: Regions must have at least 30 percent of their hospital beds available. 5: Regions must have at least 30 percent of their ICU beds available.

6: Average daily diagnostic testing over the past seven days must be sufficient to conduct 30 tests per 1,000 residents per month.

7: Contact Tracing Capacity. Number of contact tracers in each region must meet thresh- olds set by the Department of Health, in collaboration with the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health and Vital Strategies.

SOURCE: New York Office of the Governor

Glenn Rohrbacker

Suffolk County executive Steve Bellone and his team are placing focus on the seven metrics needed to start reopening the local economy. The metrics were named and put in place by Gov. Andrew Cuomo. It was concluded at the state level that the seven differ- ent statistics, when met, would allow for a safe reopening in an effort to curtail a second wave of COVID-19 cases.

“We are making progress toward meeting those metrics,” Bellone said in a press conference Monday.

Currently, the county is short on three of the metrics: new hospitalizations, decline in hospital deaths, and number of hired contact tracers. The county is about halfway to its 400-person goal for tracers.

The NY on PAUSE executive order allows for regions to begin reopening after Friday, May 15. Some regions upstate are at that level, but Suffolk, one of the hardest-hit counties in the state, will take longer, Bellone said.

“We’re not going to meet those metrics by Friday,” he said.

But the county executive remained optimistic about the county’s progress and said people are working to prepare for when the metrics are met.

The county has established a dashboard to monitor the reopening metrics in real time. It can be seen at www.suffolkcountyny.gov.