Thursday, October 1, 2026
A total of 622 people in the City of Long Beach had tested positive for Covid-19 as of Tuesday — about 1.9 percent of the population — according to the Nassau County Department of Health. Long Beach has the 11th-highest number of coronavirus cases of any municipality in the county.
The Chamber of Commerce Tuesday warned that if the city is still large closed as late as July Fourth, some 50 percent of its approximately 800 businesses — restaurants, retail stores and one- or two-person companies — would never re-open.
The Health Department said it began tracking Covid-19 cases on March 5. The Village of Hempstead, with 1,700, has the most, followed by Freeport, with 1,200, and Valley Stream, with 954. But Long Beach has more cases than other communities with dense populations, such as Woodmere, which has 509, Oceanside, 466, and Mineola, 287.
Health experts said that what makes Long Beach vulnerable is that it is both densely populated and small. In fact, it is the 35th most densely populated community in the country, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Long Beach measures just two square miles, but fewer than 40 percent of its homes are detached. It also has among the largest concentrations of nursing homes and extended-care facilities in Nassau County. At one home, the New York State Department of Health reported,22 residents died of the virus.
As the Herald went to press on Wednesday, just over 35,000 people in Nassau County, which has a population of about 1.3 million, had tested positive.
“Long Beach is a city, so a higher number of people live closer,” said Mary Ellen Laurain, a spokeswoman for the county Health Department. “We see higher numbers of coronavirus in denser communities.”
Nursing homes are under the jurisdiction of the state Health Department. Gov. Andrew Cuomo described the situation in many nursing homes as “a feeding frenzy” for the coronavirus, and said inspections of those facilities would be accelerated.
Long Beach officials said they were confident that the city is fighting the virus vigorously. “The aggressive efforts taken by the state and the City of Long Beach, including the temporary closing of the boardwalk, have demonstrably slowed the rate of infection,” said John McNally, executive assistant to Interim City Manager Donna Gayden. “We’re proud of our residents for doing their part adhering to these measures. We will continue to monitor the situation, and take the steps needed to keep our residents safe.”
The city’s 2.2-mile boardwalk was closed in late March after residents and visitors failed to maintain social distancing, despite repeated warnings. The beach remains open, and can be accessed from New York Avenue and Pacific Boulevard. Whether the beach will be open this summer remains an open question. McNally said that would be a decision made by Cuomo, who put the state on “pause” as the pandemic worsened in March.
Ian Danby, president of the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce, had a stern warning, which he prefaced by saying that it did not appear the coronavirus would vanish any time soon. The chamber took a survey, Danby said, and 55 businesses that responded said they were having a difficult time remaining open because of the lack of customers.
“If this goes on past July Fourth,” Danby said, “50 percent of the businesses in Long Beach” will not survive. If the beach does not open, he added, the situation could be even worse.
Rabbi Jack Zanerhaft, of Temple Emanu-El in Long Beach, said that since the virus took hold, more people have drawn closer to their faith, something that happens often during crises. He said he had been keeping in close touch with his congregants by phone and computer. He added that he looked forward to the reopening of the city, but feared a continued uptick in Covid-19 cases.
Long Beach, Zanerhaft said, is a fun-loving community where crowds are common. “Our free-spirited nature could have played a part in the number of coronavirus cases,” he said.
