Health

The town board voted Thursday to spend up to $10,000 a month to retain a firm through November to help with communications related to health and safety amid the Covid-19 pandemic, including a redesign of the town's website.

When Long Island enters phase three of reopening, which is expected on Wednesday, East End spas will be back in business, and they’re prepared to offer treatments ranging from massages to colonics with new protocols designed to give clients peace of mind. 

On Monday evening, Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman released a letter sent to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo in response his concerns that public safety requirements were not being enforced in the Hamptons.

Despite seven deaths from Covid-19 over the 24-hour period ending June 13, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said on Monday that other metrics continue trending in the right direction as Long Island moves toward the third of a four-phase resumption of activity.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said on Sunday that the state received 25,000 complaints about social distancing violations at businesses, mostly at bars and restaurants, with Manhattan and the Hamptons leading the way.

East Hampton Town is now accepting applications from restaurants and food stores to use public and private property for temporary outdoor dining.

It was the first time since March 16 that no one in the county had died of the virus. Hospitalizations were also down, and given positive trends, the county executive said he has been lobbying the state to allow cultural institutions to open sooner.

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, Ina Garten was already looking out for the welfare of her two million-plus Instagram followers. “Hunkering down at home with Jeffrey and a few overnight Belgian waffles for dinner,” she wrote under a photo of a fluffy, syrup-soaked waffle topped with bananas.

South Fork restaurants with existing outdoor spaces began welcoming guests on Wednesday, and those without were working with town and village governments to set up temporary open-air outposts.

The facility that cared for the county's first coronavirus patient and had dozens at the peak, expects to have fewer than 10 this week and is ready to get back to some sense of normalcy.

New sectors of economy reopened Wednesday as Covid-19 impacts continue to subside. In-store retail, salons, professional offices, and car dealerships are among the businesses that are now cleared to operate.

A new drive-up and walk-up Covid-19 testing site will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, with the first two hours reserved for members of the Montauk Chamber of Commerce.

Un nuevo centro de testeo para Covid-19, accesible a peatones y autos (drive-thru), abrirá el martes que viene en la escuela de Montauk (Montauk School), según un comunicado de la Cámara de Comercio de Montauk (Montauk Chamber of Commerce).

Amid widespread worries over absentee ballots making their way in time to school districts for budget votes and board elections this year, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Sunday signed an executive order extending the deadline for districts to receive them by mail from June 9 to June 16.

The Hampton Classic Horse Show would have marked its 45th anniversary this summer, but on Friday the show's organizers announced its cancellation because of safety precautions amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Live, in-person graduation ceremonies and professional baseball with fans in seats may happen this summer, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said on Friday, as Covid-19 infections, hospitalizations, and deaths continue to trend downward in the county.

El fin de semana largo, del Día de los Caídos, marcó la reapertura del mercado de Sag Harbor, mientras que el mercado de Springs se inauguró el sábado pasado, y el de Montauk reabrirá el jueves que viene.

Southampton Town will reopen its Town Hall on Monday after it was closed for several weeks during the shutdown. The hours will be 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday.

The county had just one death from Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, but the news is less positive on the fiscal front as it anticipates a $590 million deficit this year alone.

Shopkeepers in the village are hoping to recapture lost customers with curbside pickup, but in the words of one, it's been "more of a trickle than a river."

East Hampton Village Mayor Richard Lawler will issue an executive order to allow restaurants and takeout food stores to set up temporary outdoor dining areas on public property starting next Wednesday in a move aimed at providing a much-needed boost to village restaurants and the commercial district in general. Sag Harbor is proposing a similar move.

The Montauk School is being considered as a potential location for a Covid-19 testing site that would be fully funded by Stony Brook Southampton Hospital.

On Monday Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone thanked those taking part in demonstrations here sparked by the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis for doing so peacefully.

East Hampton Town has alerted business owners intending to reopen that they must file with New York State an affirmation that they will follow mandated safety protocols and prepare and post a safety plan.

As Covid-19 cases rise and hospitalizations decrease, the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the subsequent protests that have erupted around the country were also on the minds of county officials here.

Charter and party boat captains, eager to get back to their livehoold and get clients back on the water, finally got the chance to do so this week.

After imposing strict short-term parking limits in the village last weekend, the mayor on Friday set a 45-minute limit on parking for the final weekend of May.

Jobs cancelled, loans rejected, two months waiting for unemployment to kick in, creditors calling. This Amagansett contractor's story will sound familiar to many who've been left reeling from the financial pain of the pandemic.

District officials in East Hampton, Sag Harbor, Bridgehampton, Montauk, Springs, and Sagaponack have all fielded inquiries from new families who are considering placing their children in schools here due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The successful development of a rapid new diagnostic Lyme disease test is owed in part to the test samples contributed to the Bay Area Lyme Foundation's Lyme Disease Biobank, specifically from the patients of Dr. George Dempsey's East Hampton Family Medicine practice.