SUFFOLK CLOSEUP: COVID-19 And Health Commissioner Gregson H. Pigott

By Karl Grossman

“Even though Omicron has peaked” in Suffolk County—the rate of COVID-positive in people tested here was 28.1% on January 3rd lowering to 13.95% on January 19th, said Suffolk Health Commissioner Gregson H. Pigott, “we are still not out of the woods. We have to be very careful.”

He was speaking last week at a teleconference organized by Long Island Metro Business Action based in Ronkonkoma.

After two years of the COVID-19 pandemic and often confusing information, his presentation was remarkably clear. Indeed, Lisa Kerr, the moderator of the teleconference and vice president of Global Risk Management and Business Continuity for Henry Schein Risk Management, closed it by praising Dr. Pigott’s ability at communications.

Dr. Pigott of Greenlawn became Suffolk County’s top health official in February 2020. A native of Valley Stream, he received his MD from Brown University Medical School and a Masters in Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health. Previously, Dr. Pigott, the first Black physician to serve as Suffolk health commissioner, headed the Department of Health Services’ Office of Minority Health, and also was medical director of Emergency Medical Services for Suffolk. He is a professor of preventive medicine at Stony Brook University.

In the month he became health commissioner, we “heard something about a new virus in China.” The reaction nationally was to “monitor travel coming into the U.S. from China” and this, it was believed, would “keep the virus at bay.”

The following month, on March 8, 2020—from memory he cited specific date after date—he was informed by the New York State Health Department that “you have your first COVID case” in Suffolk. The initial thought was that it involved someone from western Suffolk who might have traveled to Suffolk from New York City. But the “person lived in Greenport, deep on the North Fork, not even close to the city.” 

In the following days of March, COVID was appearing widely in Suffolk. The “first fatality” from COVID in Suffolk happened on March 16^th at St. Catherine’s Hospital in Smithtown, said Dr. Pigott.

There were serious “impacts on the health care system.” The 11 hospitals in Suffolk “were overwhelmed.” By April 10^th, he said, 1,658 were hospitalized with COVID in Suffolk.

As of last week, the death toll in Suffolk from COVID stood at 4,100.

“Contact tracing” was stressed, to have infected people “stay out of circulation” for a time “and not spread” the virus “to others.”

Then came the emergence and usage of vaccines, said Dr. Pigott. And in the months thereafter in the U.S. “we started to see a significant reduction.” of COVID. By June 2021 “we thought we had control of the situation.”

“But the virus seems to always outsmart us.” 

The Delta variant emanating in India hit. Delta “peaked in September 2021” as the predominant form of COVID, he related. And it had a “winter surge” heightened by “people getting together indoors” for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. 

And then Omicron, first found in South Africa, came to Suffolk in the “last week of November” 2021. Omicron, he said, is different from the earlier strains which “damaged lung tissue”—thus the need for ventilators to enable victims to breathe. Omicron, he said, is “more an upper respiratory infection,” presenting as a sore throat and/or a mild cough. It moves and usually ends quickly.

COVID deaths in Suffolk continue. In Suffolk in this month of January, there have been double-digit fatalities daily from COVID. There were “24 [deaths] on January 19th,” said Dr. Pigott. Some 60% of those hospitalized from COVID in Suffolk in recent times have been “unvaccinated,” he said.

Dr. Pigott warned that COVID-19 “continually mutates.” He predicted that ahead there will be another “twist in the plot” and this Fall “another formula” of a “tweaked vaccine.”

Getting “triple-vaccinated”—with two shots of either Pfizer and Moderna vaccines and a booster of either—is critical, he said. As to masks, he said cloth masks are “sieves” and don’t keep COVID particles out as is necessary. He recommended N-95 and KN-95 masks that prevent 95% of particles getting through, as their numbers signify, 

The nightmare of the COVID pandemic goes on…and on. And, indeed, we all, as the doctor says, must be very careful. 

Karl Grossman is a veteran investigative reporter and columnist, the winner of numerous awards for his work and a member of the L.I. Journalism Hall of Fame. He is a professor of journalism at SUNY/College at Old Westbury and the author of six books.