STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – Four more borough residents are believed to have succumbed to the coronavirus (COVID-19) in the last 24 hours, while the number of confirmed cases of the disease rose by 36, city Health Department data show.
The deaths come one day after Staten Island had reached a grim milestone - surpassing 1,000 deaths related to the coronavirus.
That toll, which had hit 1,002 on Thursday, increased to 1,006 by Friday afternoon, according to the most recent figures published.
The fatalities include 830 Staten Islanders with confirmed coronavirus cases, up five from Thursday afternoon’s total. In addition, 176 deaths were in the “probable” category, down one from 24 hours earlier.
A death is classified as “probable” if the decedent was a city resident who had no known positive laboratory test for the coronavirus, but the death certificate lists “COVID-19” or an equivalent as a cause of death.
A Health Department source said the figures reflect totals as of when they are reported to the agency and not when the deaths occur.
Also as of 1 p.m. Friday, there have been 13,517 confirmed coronavirus cases on Staten Island since the pandemic’s outbreak, the data said.
That total had been 13,481 cases at the same time on Thursday.
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Citywide, there were 202,829 confirmed coronavirus cases as of Friday afternoon.
The number represented a spike of 510 from Thursday’s tally of 202,319.
Across the five boroughs, the death toll stood at 21,782 on Friday afternoon, a jump of 30 from the 21,752 fatalities recorded 24 hours earlier.
The deaths consist of 17,055 individuals who were confirmed coronavirus cases, along with 4,727 others whose deaths were deemed as “probable” COVID-19 cases.
A large majority of the deaths in confirmed coronavirus cases which were investigated by the city thus far have occurred in patients with underlying medical issues, said the Health Department.
Underlying conditions include diabetes, lung disease, cancer, immunodeficiency, heart disease, hypertension, asthma, kidney disease and gastro-intestinal/liver disease, said the Health Department.
Meanwhile, on a positive note, a total of 3,183 coronavirus patients have been treated at and released from the borough’s two hospital systems since the pandemic’s outbreak.
Staten Island University Hospital’s (SIUH) two campuses have discharged 2,044 patients as of Friday, said Jillian O’Hara, a spokeswoman.
Richmond University Medical Center has treated and released 1,139 patients, Alex Lutz, a spokesman, said.
At the same time, the number of hospitalized coronavirus patients in the borough dipped by four.
On Friday morning, 85 patients were being cared for on Staten Island.
The total is a fraction compared to just under two months ago when in-patient numbers peaked.
On April 8, 554 Islanders were hospitalized with the coronavirus.
At SIUH, 50 patients were being treated Friday morning, an uptick of one from Thursday’s total. All the coronavirus patients are at the Ocean Breeze campus, said O’Hara. No coronavirus patients are in the Prince’s Bay facility, she said.
Richmond University Medical Center was caring for 35 coronavirus patients as of Friday morning, a decline of five from Thursday, Lutz said.
With respect to testing, the data show 2,839 of every 100,000 Staten Islanders have received positive results for the coronavirus, according to 2018 Census data projections and the Health Department’s Friday afternoon tally.
Staten Island’s infection rate is second highest among the five boroughs.
Officials, however, stress the examinations do not necessarily reflect the full spread of the virus.
The Bronx’s infection rate still tops the city.
In that borough, 3,199 residents per 100,000 have tested positive. The Bronx has had 45,818 cases.
Queens has the third highest rate of confirmed coronavirus cases in the city, with 2,718 residents per 100,000 testing positive. There have been 61,949 cases in that borough, the second-most populous.
Brooklyn, the borough with the largest population, has the fourth-lowest rate of infection per 100,000 residents – 2,170.
Brooklyn’s 56,057 cases are the second most among the five boroughs.
Manhattan has the lowest infection rate in the city with 1,558 per 100,000 residents testing positive.
There have been 25,379 positive cases in Manhattan, the data said.