Nassau County Executive Laura
Curran says COVID-19 cases are increasing and the focus remains on robust
testing and protecting hospital capacity.
The county has reported a
seven-day infection rate of 4.2% with 274 hospitalized and 36 in the intensive
care unit.
“We are doing well, but we are seeing numbers
increasing in Nassau. We are seeing 65% of new cases are coming from social
gatherings,” says Curran.
As of Wednesday, Nassau
currently has two yellow zones, Massapequa Park with a 6.1% infection rate and
Great Neck with a 4.3%. Within those zones, 20% of those in schools has to be
tested and must maintain that level of testing.
"In a yellow zone, 20%
of the population has to be tested just once now, and then they can maintain
that, they don't have to keep testing unless they go into an orange zone.
Orange zone is 20% of the population must be tested once a month and red zone
30% must be tested once a month," says Curran.
No
towns in Nassau are currently in the orange or red zones.
Meanwhile, Curran says the county remains committed to
helping commercial and residential taxpayers feeling the impact of the virus.
“Due
to uncertainty and chaos cause by pandemic and continued economic hardships I
am putting a pause on property assessment evaluation updates,” says Curran.
The move means current assessment values for 2021-2022
year will be carried through 2022-2023.
Curran says the move was made so the new assessment would
not be based on the current chaotic real estate values caused by the pandemic
and to give people a sense of certainty.