The East Hampton School District will restrict classes to remote-only at the John M. Marshall Elementary School starting Friday, and will extend this week’s virtual instruction at the middle and high schools through next week.
The Sag Harbor School District on Monday unveiled a preliminary plan to begin administering Covid-19 tests to its students and staff members within the next two weeks.
The list of New Yorkers eligible to receive the Covid-19 vaccine was expanded this week to include those 65 and older, the immunocompromised, members of police and fire departments, health workers at outpatient facilities including private medical and dental practices, teachers and school staff, child-care workers, and grocery store workers who interact with the public.
With East Hampton High School reporting 13 active Covid-19 cases this week and the middle school reporting another nine among staff and students, the two schools will switch to fully remote classes next week, the district announced Friday afternoon.
A drive-through Covid-19 testing site is scheduled to open at East Hampton Town Hall on Wednesday. The outdoor site, which will be open seven days per week from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., has been established in response to the surge in coronavirus transmission across Long Island and in New York State.
By most measures, Suffolk County had its worst month of the pandemic so far: New cases per day were above 1,000 on 27 days, and hit a new high of just over 2,000 on Dec. 30. The total cumulative Covid-19 cases increased by 50 percent in the five East End towns during December.
Andrew M. Cuomo announced updated quarantine guidelines for New York State on Tuesday, aligning them with those of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Federal lawmakers on Monday passed a $1.4 trillion general appropriations bill that includes a provision to halt the public auction of Plum Island, the pristine 840-acre island that is officially part of Southold Town but is owned by the federal Department of Homeland Security.
Route 114 near Whooping Hollow Road in East Hampton was closed because of a downed utility pole that fell Thursday morning. There were no injuries, according to East Hampton Town police, and PSEG was working to repair the damage.
Governor Cuomo’s announcement on Friday that indoor dining in New York City would be curtailed as of Monday is the latest manifestation of a worsening Covid-19 crisis in the state, which now has an overall positive infection rate of 4.9 percent, but he emphasized that “living room spread” represents the majority of new infections.
