Coronavirus

Farmers markets in East Hampton and Springs will not open this week as initially planned.

Four town ocean beaches will open on Saturday during lifeguarded hours of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.: Indian Wells and Atlantic Avenue in Amagansett, and South Edison and Ditch Plain in Montauk. For the time being they will be open on weekends only. 

South Fork retail stores have been closed to the public during the economic shutdown, but when they are allowed to reopen, shopkeepers said this week that they will be welcoming back customers with steam-cleaned products, curbside pickup, sidewalk sales, and pleas to wear masks and practice social distancing.

The weekend past was the first in which tennis clubs have been open for play, having been moved up by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo from the fourth to the first phase in a planned step-by-step reopening of the state in the wake of a total shutdown prompted by the coronavirus pandemic two months ago.

On Wednesday, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone announced a 45-day property tax extension without penalty for those who were affected economically by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The unanimously approved plan from a group that included town supervisors, village mayors, officials from schools, and other interested parties in the county will be sent to the governor's office with a request for an executive order authorizing the plan. Once approved, the deadline to file taxes for those approved will be July 15.

There are approximately 230 seniors in East Hampton High School's class of 2020, and community members are lining up by the dozen — virtually, of course — to make sure every one of them feels special during these challenging times.

“My priority is to make sure Suffolk County residents will be able to enjoy access to the beaches during this crisis, while we do have reduced capacity,” County Executive Steve Bellone said on Monday.

Southampton Town will open and staff just three beaches this weekend. Both the town and the village will limit access to keep crowds to a minimum.

“A summertime influx of people into our area has the potential to cause renewed outbreaks of Covid-19 and reverse the progress our area has made in reducing spread of the disease through weeks of staying at home, quarantining, and following precautions in public,” town board members wrote to the governor.

The county is awaiting an executive order from the governor before allowing the procedures. It is expected shortly.

Wary about the prospect of welcoming a series of new visitors in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, the inn's management announced this week that it will seek to rent the entire property from June 1 to Labor Day for $1 million, or $350,000 per month.

In an executive order signed late Thursday, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo extended the stay-at-home Pause order through May 28 for regions of New York State — including Long Island — that have not been cleared to begin resuming business activity.

Slow Food East End, which promotes local food producers and artisans, announced this week that it will donate $15,000 to the region’s food pantries.

The Springs School Board voted Monday to put a budget of just over $30 million before taxpayers for the annual school vote, along with two ballot propositions.

Hamptons United, at hamptonsunited.org, was launched with nine charities “doing critical work on the East End through the collection and distribution of financial donations and acts of kindness." It now hosts 14 organizations, and more are being evaluated for inclusion.

Before Suffolk County can safely begin to emerge from the Covid-19 lockdown, an expansive contact tracing program designed to contain future outbreaks by identifying, monitoring, and isolating those who come in contact with someone infected must be in place.

“Most of our clientele is older and somewhat frail, and some of them have chosen not to come in,” but then one day “an 80-plus-year-old lady did. She said her balance training was more important to her than coronavirus worries . . . that if she fell and broke her leg things could be even worse.”

We’ve been thrust into a surreal crisis filled with uncertainty and fear. Without effective coping strategies that enable us to adapt, it is easy to feel overwhelmed. Here are a few.

Stony Brook University Hospital and Stony Brook Southampton Hospital have devised ways to give voice to their Covid-19 patients and help keep them in touch with their families.

Using Airbnb is out, enlisting a savvy broker is in. Short-term bookings are out, long-term stays are in. Standard leases are out, customized ones with Covid-19 riders are in.

Waiting out the pandemic on the South Fork, three teens saw a need, turned their concern into action, and partnered with an Amagansett church to come to the aid of people "struggling to support their families."

East Hampton’s formidable population of “older adults” is characterized, among many traits, by resilience, and that can serve them well in the face of a pandemic.

“We in E.M.S. are completely in the dark on what the plan is for the coming months and what to expect,” the Montauk Ambulance Company wrote in a letter to the town board. “We need clarity and, more importantly, to have our thoughts heard.”

Two measures of Long Island’s progress toward reopening the economy appear to be at odds, but one thing is for certain at this point: When Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s Pause order expires tomorrow, Long Island will not be ready to fully reopen despite what is thought to be the waning impact of Covid-19 in New York State.

The Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation, founded in 2006 by the musician John Bongiovi Jr., a.k.a. Jon Bon Jovi, to address hunger and homelessness in the United States, is establishing a food bank to supply and deliver food to a central location in East Hampton Town for distribution to its food pantries.

The number of Covid-19 patients in Suffolk County hospitals increased by 10 on Monday, and a number from Tuesday was not yet available. The increase may just be a "one day thing," said Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone at his daily briefing.

Stony Brook University's College of Business will offer an online course starting Monday to provide small businesses owners with guidance on keeping their businesses viable in the midst of the pandemic.

"It's been a very rough couple of months -- but at least now there's a sliver of light," said Claude Okin, who owns the Sportime club in Amagansett and numerous other tennis clubs in the metro area.

Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said the county now meets four of the seven criteria necessary for reopening, but will not be ready to do so by Friday, the day the PAUSE order ends.

El viernes pasado, las autoridades anunciaron que con 694 casos nuevos en las 24 horas previas, el condado de Suffolk ya sumaba un total de 40.483 casos de personas que han dado positivo para la prueba de Covid-19. De ese total, 3.961 han dado positivo para la prueba de anticuerpos, lo cual indica una exposición anterior al virus.