The number of Covid-19 patients at Huntington Hospital rose to 45 on Monday.
Experts attribute the rise in cases and deaths to an increase in indoor gatherings, from waning immunity from the vaccinations and the spread of both the Delta and Omicron variants.
Town Clerk Andrew Raia said Monday the total number of Covid-19 deaths since the epidemic arrived in March 2020 had risen to 784, with four of those deaths occurring since last week.
Updated: Gov. Kathy Hochul said Monday afternoon that 7 of the 60 statewide deaths that were recorded Sunday had occurred in Suffolk County.
Some Huntington businesses and institutions have begun taking new approaches or renewing precautions they had followed earlier in the epidemic.
The Huntington school district said that at Finley Middle School, only two spectators per player are permitted, and no visitor team spectators are permitted.
No spectators will be permitted at boys basketball tournament Dec. 29-30. But the district has added a Hudl camera to the Finley gym and will livestream games to the Huntington Blue Devil Sports YouTube channel.
Daniel Pedisich of Konoba Huntington said Sunday his restaurant began limiting seating to 50 percent of capacity through Thursday.
“All servers wear masks, all food handlers wear gloves that are changed frequently, and hospital grade disinfectants are used on all shared surfaces,” he said.