Coronavirus

It was one of those things you think could happen anywhere but in your own town, but Covid-19 proved it would not discriminate, starting with its official arrival here in March 2020, when the county's first Covid-19 patient was admitted to Stony Brook Southampton Hospital.

East Hampton Town and Stony Brook Medicine are offering Covid vaccines today, Friday, March 5, for those 65 years or older at the East Hampton Town clinic on Stephen Hand's Path. Several hundred appointments were still available as of Friday morning.

It's hard to find any sector of society that wasn't impacted by Covid-19 in the year since the county's first virus case was reported, and first-person experiences and expert opinions, documented here, suggest that the pandemic may leave its mark for years to come.

Armed with a computer, an internet connection, and a humanitarian streak, East End residents who have become adept at using New York State's website for booking Covid-19 vaccine appointments are helping others get their shots.

If all goes according to plan, by March 15 the vast majority of South Fork students between Montauk and Bridgehampton will be back in school in person, five days a week. The move by several local districts represents a shift back toward what school used to look like, but with the benefit of pandemic hindsight.

From the parking lot in the mall to the emergency room in the hospital, community members are showing how kindness — any time, any place, to anyone — can be a real shot in the arm during the pandemic.

All too often, it seems, the story of Covid-19 is told through statistics and trends. Beyond those numbers are hundreds of thousands of human beings — real people — who lost their lives to the pandemic across the world. As told to The Star by their families, here are some of their stories from the East End.

For those who need help coping with pandemic-related losses and other issues, a number of organizations and medical facilities continue to offer resources. Here are a few.

The governor spoke at length about three women's allegations of inappropriate behavior in remarks to the press during a regular update on the coronavirus pandemic.

East Hampton Town on Tuesday formally launched a vaccine "hub" website for town residents to sign up to receive Covid-19 vaccine appointments. It is accessible at ehtownvaccine.org.

A senior Stony Brook Southampton Hospital official said this week that the post-holiday surge of Covid-19 patients is over, and now it's a matter of public vigilance until vaccinations yield widespread immunity to the virus.

As Covid-19 case counts and positivity rates continue their general decline, East Hampton School District officials are expected to unveil plans next week to bring more students back for in-person learning.

During a budget workshop this week, Richard Burns, the district superintendent, said there will be a detailed discussion of the plans at a regular board meeting on Tuesday. It will begin at 6:30 p.m. and will be live-streamed on YouTube by LTV. There will be an opportunity for community members to call in comments.

Despite the frustrating nature of wearing a mask, multiple studies have shown over the past year that doing so can significantly decrease the transmission of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 by more than 70 percent.

More than 250 people from communities of color received Covid-19 vaccinations at a pop-up clinic in East Hampton organized by the Organizacion Latino-Americana of Eastern Long Island, part of a state effort to make sure minority communities receive access to the vaccine.

On Tuesday, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone pledged to work with local municipalities and nonprofit organizations on the East End to get Covid-19 vaccines to a region that is widely considered underserved.

Covid-19 continues to disrupt local tradition, with the Montauk Friends of Erin's St. Patrick's Day parade, gala, and grand marshal's lunch the latest victims of the pandemic. The Friends had announced plans to hold the parade on March 28, a Sunday, but yesterday, about five weeks out, word came of its cancellation. The 2020 parade had met the same fate.

A new Covid-19 testing site in Montauk is expected to begin operation next week and will be open every day. “Knowing that we’re trending in a positive way toward summer, the state will be looking for negative tests” in order for weddings and other large gatherings to be held safely, East Hampton Councilman David Lys said.

People have rushed and raided shelves for the obvious during Covid — hand sanitizer, disinfectant, paper towels, yeast for all those burgeoning home bakers — but they've also rushed to buy up unexpected things like dumbbells, balloons, Krud Kutter, tiki torches, and zinc.

At the beginning of September, four South Fork college students talked with The East Hampton Star about their expectations and experiences so far attending school during the Covid-19 pandemic. One semester later, this is how it's going.

In an initial effort to oversee local Covid-19 vaccinations, East Hampton Town opened a vaccination clinic at the former Child Development Center of the Hamptons Building on Saturday and provided shots to 332 residents, including first responders, teachers, and people who work in food and grocery stores.

In an effort to make sure communities of color have equal access to Covid-19 vaccinations, New York State and Organizacion Latino-Americana of Eastern Long will open a pop-up vaccination site at Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church in East Hampton on Friday.

Bars, restaurants, and other businesses licensed by the New York State Liquor Authority can now remain open until 11 p.m., giving them an extra hour to do business. More New Yorkers with certain conditions now qualify to get the vaccine, and East Hampton Town vaccinated 300 people at its own distribution site on Saturday.

East Hampton Town will receive 300 Covid-19 vaccine doses from Suffolk County on Friday, and on Saturday will use them to vaccinate firefighters, teachers, and other members of the b eligibility group at the town's new mass vaccination site at the former Child Development of the Hamptons building.

Having read and written about the vaccines and their safety, efficacy, and side-effects profile, I knew that more significant side effects were possible when I went back to the hospital four weeks later for my second dose. And they definitely happened. 

Policing during Covid comes with a world of unprecedented stress, challenges that are exponentially greater, and the added worry of bringing the virus home to family members. "If you saw it in a movie or book you wouldn't believe it," one South Fork chief said.

A round of Covid-19 testing for East Hampton High School athletes and a more general testing session at the Springs School have turned up good results for both schools, officials announced this week.

Sag Harbor's Board of Education, faced with a student petition to overturn a recent decision by the district superintendent, Jeff Nichols, not to let Pierson High student-athletes compete this winter in "high-risk" sports, once again seconded the superintendent at a meeting Monday night.

"Over the past few weeks, there has been a significant decrease in the number of high school students attending in-person," Brittany Carriero, the school principal, said in an email to families.

Connecticut? Fuhgeddaboutit. Frustrated by an inability to get a Covid-19 vaccination close to home, South Fork residents have been traveling by road and sea to try their luck elsewhere, with some having far more success than others.

In the first of two rounds of Covid-19 testing at the Springs School, there were no positive results in the 55 people tested, the school district announced Monday.