Infectious disease experts and elected officials are expecting to see a spike in positive coronaviurs cases after people gathered for Thanksgiving and will likely continue to gather over the upcoming holidays.

"Heading toward the holidays, it is a little bit concerning that we are now heading into probably the most difficult phase of this pandemic in the next several months," said Dr. Uzma Syed, of Catholic Health Services.

Syed says social activities like traveling and shopping, will likely lead to an increase in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations.

Syed says not only is COVID-19 highly contagious, but about 50% of virus transmission originates in people who have no symptoms or are pre-symptomatic.

"When we get together with people we think, 'well they're feeling fine, I'm feeling fine, there's no risk here,' but in fact…two days later, people can develop symptoms and at this point they've already transmitted that virus to so many people," said Syed.

The doctor reiterated the importance of wearing a mask and practicing social distancing.

Suffolk police say they received 18 calls regarding noncompliance of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's 10-person limit order for Thanksgiving gatherings. No summonses were issued. The Nassau fire marshal says they did not recieve any complaints.