Coronavirus

Religious traditions and customary burials have been upended by the prohibition on gatherings as the coronavirus continues to spread. While the dead must still be buried, loved ones are somewhat stifled in their grief without being able to mourn as they normally would.

Their meetings are not without technical issues, but local school boards have ventured into the world of virtual assemblies and live-streaming on various platforms.     

As Warren Zevon’s song “Splendid Isolation” plays in my head I continue to cook, cook, cook, and explore our new world very carefully.     

Golf is apparently the last game in town, and, according to the head pro at Montauk Downs, Mark Fretto, new rules have enabled the beautiful public course there to remain open for play during the coronavirus siege.

With elected officials likening the fight against Covid-19 to a “war,” you might also compare Nancy Nano to Rosie the Riveter, or Urban Reininger to Uncle Sam, or think of local libraries as home-grown victory gardens.   

Suffolk County's Covid-19 case rate per 1,000 inhabitants recorded a sharp rise in figures released on Tuesday. The five East End towns continued to lag the county as a whole in confirmed coronavirus cases per thousand.

Sixteen additional Suffolk County residents have died from Covid-19, County Executive Steve Bellone said on Wednesday, bringing the total to 69.

The food supply is abundant, but so is the need at East Hampton Town's food pantries, which operating on overdrive to serve more residents amid the shutdown of commercial activity brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic.

As confirmed cases of Covid-19 climbed to 5,791 in Suffolk County, a second drive-through testing site has opened in Riverhead. The facility, operated by ProHealth, a New York-based medical provider, is the first on the East End. 

Con el mayor número de casos de COVID-19 esperados en dos o tres semanas en el estado de Nueva York, los hospitales del Condado de Suffolk están añadiendo camas. Los profesionales médicos locales están estresados y hay escasez de equipo. A los oficiales de gobierno les preocupa que el público no está tomando la amenaza del coronavirus lo suficientemente en serio.

As of Sunday, cases in New York State were doubling every six days, a rate of increase slightly lower than earlier this week. The state had over 59,000 cases, with Suffolk County reporting 5,023 cases and 40 virus-related deaths.

Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone on Saturday said seven more people in the county have died of COVID-19, bringing the death toll to 37. There are now 4,138 confirmed virus cases in the county, up by 753 from Friday. East Hampton's patient count remained the same at 20, but cases in Southampton rose from 65 to 72 in one day. Mr. Bellone said 16 percent of those who are hospitalized -- about 66 people out of 409 -- are age 65 or older.

Ed Porco, a former Montauk resident who had been living at Peconic Landing on the North Fork with his wife, Joan, died of Covid-19 on Tuesday at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital.

The state revised an executive order on Friday to halt all nonessential construction during the coronavirus pandemic. 

An order by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has extended the distance-learning measure at least until April 15.

Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said Friday that eight more people in the county had died from COVID-19. There are now 331 cases across Suffolk.

Arts organizations including the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center, Bay Street Theater, and the Parrish Art Museum have modified their educational programs for families and children to offer them digitally and free of charge. 

East Hampton Town’s essential services are functioning, despite mandates to reduce staffing and implement the social distancing practices critical to controlling the now-explosive growth in COVID-19 infections in the tristate area. 

In learning to cope with the shutdown of public assembly and commercial activity amid a health emergency, many profess a new appreciation for life and its myriad joys. 

As Covid-19 continues to spread, first responders on the South Fork are continuing to work, albeit while taking extra precautions. 

Unable to sell a 1,000-pound catch of fluke last week, Capt. Chuck Morici of the dragger Act 1 spent three days filleting the fish at Montauk commercial dock and offering it for free straight from his boat. On Saturday morning, he gave it away from the back of his pickup truck in downtown Montauk, a big handwritten sign announcing, “Free Fish.”

“We need to support those on the front lines of crisis, particularly the health care workers,” Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman said. “None of us have direct experience with this, even in my 27 years of government experience I’ve never faced anything like it.”

For students who rely on schools to provide nutritious meals each day, there is assistance available locally for breakfast and lunch.

With the full wave of COVID-19 patients still expected to be a few weeks out in New York State, Suffolk hospitals are scrambling to add beds, local medical professionals are feeling taxed, equipment is in short supply, and officials are worried that the public is not taking the threat of infection seriously enough.

East Hampton Village has its third confirmed case of COVID-19, Mayor Richard Lawler announced in a statement on Thursday, and there are now 2,735 confirmed cases countywide, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said in his daily update on the crisis. 
       

Live, from East Hampton: Your town board members will take part in a virtual video meeting on Friday that will be streamed on LTV’s Channel 22 and online.

In a message posted online on Tuesday night, the department followed a recommendation from the White House Coronavirus Task Force in urging anyone who had been in the city recently to stay home and isolated for 14 days.

East End food pantries and other social services organizations are seeing a surge of people in need as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, their directors said this week. 

The Sag Harbor School District on Wednesday announced "more than one member of our school community" has been diagnosed with COVID-19, making it the second local school to confirm at least one case.

The school, which has students in prekindergarten through 12th grade, including international boarding students, said it is not known how the faculty member contracted the illness. The test result came in late Monday night.