A year into the Covid-19 pandemic in the United States, there are many lessons learned, both good and bad. No one could fully anticipate how it would play out here on Long Island, and if one were to prepare a guidebook for the future, there would be plenty to write about.
Foremost, the unevenness with which the disease struck the regions different communities was stark. Poorer places and those with large populations of Black or Spanish-speaking residents were disproportionately affected. To be Black in New York State meant you had a far higher chance of dying from Covid-19 than if you were white. It is a moral imperative that this shameful truth must be dealt with through a redesign of medical care systems and social programs. On the East End, the imbalance played out in places like Springs, Hampton Bays, Flanders, and Riverhead, with elevated case counts compared to the surrounding areas.
A lack of detail hurt local responses to the pandemic. Though there has been a great deal of data produced, figures for deaths were available only at the county level, leaving no way to gauge the relative severity of the disease and guide where resources should be brought to bear. It became clear as well that the Suffolk Health Department was a non-presence and that a new public health program must be developed. In East Hampton Town an official committee to deal with Covid-19 was set up, but it initially had no medical experts on it and instead was made up of people mostly interested in reopening businesses. Going forward, there needs to be local medical leadership. During the 1918-19 influenza pandemic, East Hampton had a medical officer, a physician, who had the authority to act as he saw fit. Instead, during Covid, town supervisors and mayors claimed sprawling emergency powers with garbled messages and confusion more often than not.
As vaccine distribution gets underway there is a growing sense that older residents are not being looked out for even now. Nor has there been meaningful coordination among local governments to fill in gaps in services or band together to demand more from the county and state. On the South Fork, too, we learned that the towns can accommodate an increased year-round population, though it may be that their septic systems can’t.
Heroes during the crisis have come from among emergency medical personnel and police, who took on an uncertain risk and massively increased workloads. School administrators, nurses, and especially teachers adapted to provide as much educational continuity as they could. Their work is only just beginning, as they work to compensate for a partially lost year for many students.
We also have learned of a limitless capacity for charity and an eagerness to help others. Individuals generously gave their time and money without being asked. This ranged from food pantry donations to supporting local news organizations as normal revenue streams dried up. And we learned about the need for human contact, if only a few kind words with a stranger on the other end of a phone call. Perhaps more than ever in our lifetimes, we realized that we were indeed all in this together.