Coronavirus

The Covid-19 and influenza testing center on Stephen Hand's Path has been closed by East Hampton Town "due to lack of demand," the town has announced.

Starting this week, East Hampton Town’s Covid-19 testing site at 110 Stephen Hand’s Path in Wainscott, operated by CareONE Concierge, will only be open on Fridays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The new Covid-19 boosters, which add protection against the Omicron variant, will be available by appointment only at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital on Monday between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. at Parrish Memorial Hall.

The updated Covid-19 booster shots — which protect against both the original strain of the virus and the now-dominant Omicron subvariants — are already becoming available at pharmacies, physicians’ offices, and other sites.

New York State Gov. Kathy Hochul on Monday updated the official Covid-19 policies for schools, aligning the state with recommendations from the federal Centers for Disease Control. Notable among the changes is a relaxing of quarantine rules and testing requirements.

Amid the New York City Health Department’s recommendation that face masks should once again be worn in public indoor settings and crowded outdoor settings due to high transmission levels of Covid-19, the number of new infections and hospitalizations on the South Fork is of growing concern, Councilwoman Sylvia Overby told the Wainscott Citizens Advisory Committee on Saturday.

In the three and a half weeks since Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, signed off on Covid-19 vaccines for children under 5, there has not been a huge demand, according to Dr. Gail Schonfeld of East End Pediatrics in East Hampton.

Despite a high rate of vaccination, Covid-19 has proven an unrelenting and evolving threat to public health across New York and the country, and highly contagious subvariants of the Omicron variant mean a growing number of people have endured, or will experience, multiple infections, according to an associate professor of public health at Stony Brook University.

Despite a significant uptick in Covid-19 cases, including the designation of Suffolk and Nassau Counties as a region now at high risk of virus transmission by the federal Centers for Disease Control, the number of patients admitted at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital has remained in the single digits over the last few weeks — very much manageable, the hospital's chief medical officer has said. "We're going to have to learn how to live with it when community spread goes up like it is now."

“We are going to continue to be open for the foreseeable future,” said Dr. Jason Cavolina of CareONE Concierge, which provides Covid-19 testing for East Hampton Town at the former Child Development Center of the Hamptons. The decision reflects yet another uptick in transmission of the virus.

East Hampton Town's senior citizens center, on Springs-Fireplace Road in East Hampton, has been temporarily shuttered following several cases of Covid-19 among program attendees and staff.

Despite the feeling of calm that has settled in after mask mandates were lifted, despite the significantly lower case numbers and deaths across the United States, Covid is not finished with us — or we with it.

In line with Gov. Kathy Hochul's announcement on Saturday of New Yorkers' eligibility for second-booster shots of the Covid-19 vaccines, Stony Brook Southampton Hospital has updated its appointment times and testing hours for Covid and influenza.

An awful lot of people are getting sick with one thing or another in the weeks since New York State's mask mandate was lifted. “In prior years, this is when flu season is just ending, but right now, it’s just starting,” said Dr. Gail Schonfeld, whose East End Pediatrics practice in East Hampton has seen an average of five cases of flu each day over the past two weeks.

East Hampton Town's Covid-19 testing site at the former Child Development Center of the Hamptons on Stephen Hand's Path will continue operating at least through April 15, as concerns about the BA.2 subvariant and the upcoming April school break spark renewed interest in tests.

Both Pfizer and Moderna have asked the federal Food and Drug Administration for authorization of a fourth (or second booster) dose of their respective mRNA vaccines against Covid-19. Should this be approved, how much extra protection would it provide and who would benefit?

Two years and two days after East Hampton Town declared a state of emergency because of a surging Covid-19 pandemic, Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc announced on Tuesday the rescinding of that declaration and of its accompanying executive orders, saying that he was "really excited that things are looking up, finally, after two very long years."

Earlier this month state and local authorities began to roll back mask mandates in a variety of settings including schools and public spaces like restaurants. After two years of such mandates, these changes have given many a feeling that the end of the Covid-19 pandemic may finally be upon us. But is it soon to set aside our masks?

The Sag Harbor School District's superintendent, Jeff Nichols, outlined the school’s new Covid-19 protocols relating to contact tracing, close contacts, and "even students returning to school if they test positive."

The Bridgehampton School and Stony Brook Southampton Hospital have teamed up to offer a Covid-19 vaccine clinic for children and teens on Saturday at the school.

Face coverings in most South Fork schools are now optional. School districts from Montauk to Southampton confirmed that as of Wednesday masks will no longer be mandatory for students, teachers, administrators, or staff. The mask rollback extends to school buses as well.

"My friends, the day has come," Gov. Kathy Hochul said Sunday after announcing that the state would lift its school mask mandate as of Wednesday following consultation with public health officials, teachers, school administrators, and PTA members. Local officials in individual school districts and counties will continue to have the power to impose mask mandates and other restrictive measures based on their needs.

With Covid-19 transmission falling to levels not seen since last year, East Hampton Town has lifted a mask requirement for those entering town offices and other facilities. 

A New York State mandate that people wear masks or show proof of vaccination at restaurants, gyms, theaters, offices, and stores was lifted last Thursday. The decision, Gov. Kathy Hochul said at the time, was motivated by improving Covid-19 measurements, including the percentage of tests coming back positive, hospitalizations, the number of cases per 100,000 people, and vaccinations.

A chorus of Springs School parents on Tuesday joined the many loud-and-clear voices calling for a “mask choice” policy, which would enable them to decide whether their children should wear masks.

East Hampton and Southampton Towns are offering free Covid-19 rapid antigen home test kits to residents this week and next. 

Charging that New York State’s indoor mask-wearing mandate has had negative social, emotional, and academic fallout on their children, some 20 Sag Harbor School parents demanded on Monday that administrators and school board members adopt a “mask choice” policy that would allow parents to decide what’s best for their children.

Effective Thursday, a New York State mandate that people wear masks or show proof of vaccination at restaurants, gyms, theaters, offices and stores will be lifted, but individual businesses and municipal governments will be able to set their own policies.

A reader asked, is a third dose recommended after receiving an mRNA booster vaccine (such as Moderna or Pfizer) following the Johnson and Johnson single dose? Dr. Potter looked into it.

The East Hampton Library has a new video series, “Covid Hamptons: How the Pandemic Reshaped an Iconic Community," documenting current historical events as they unfold. It includes firsthand accounts from people such as police officers, musicians, farmers, and barbers as they talk about the once-in-a-century, one hopes, event that has transformed life in the town and across the globe.