Health

Earlier this month state and local authorities began to roll back mask mandates in a variety of settings including schools and public spaces like restaurants. After two years of such mandates, these changes have given many a feeling that the end of the Covid-19 pandemic may finally be upon us. But is it soon to set aside our masks?

With Covid-19 transmission falling to levels not seen since last year, East Hampton Town has lifted a mask requirement for those entering town offices and other facilities. 

East Hampton and Southampton Towns are offering free Covid-19 rapid antigen home test kits to residents this week and next. 

Effective Thursday, a New York State mandate that people wear masks or show proof of vaccination at restaurants, gyms, theaters, offices and stores will be lifted, but individual businesses and municipal governments will be able to set their own policies.

While the pandemic’s trajectory remains uncertain, the Omicron variant’s tendency to cause milder sickness, combined with the sheer number of those with a degree of protection through prior infection or vaccination, signal a period of transition for the virus that has upended life for the past two years.

As Covid-19 hospitalizations among children skyrocketed in December, particularly impacting children who aren’t eligible for vaccine shots yet, health experts and educators are keeping a watchful eye and doing everything they can to keep kids safe. “It’s really important that if you’re thinking about herd immunity, children are part of the herd,” a chief at Stony Brook Children's Hospital said.

More and more people are visiting health professionals to discuss anxiety and depression, and what's striking is not the new onset of these symptoms and conditions or the severity with which they are presenting but instead that so many people are almost apologetic when they bring up these concerns.

The Omicron variant of Covid-19 continues to surge through Suffolk County, but there may be signs of a coming decline in cases, which reached an all time high last week.

East Hampton High School students will have at least two more days of remote lessons this week, Monday and Tuesday, with administrators planning a return to in-person classes on Wednesday.

The push to expand access to Covid-19 vaccines continues on the South Fork, with East Hampton Town adding five additional vaccination clinics in February and Stony Brook Southampton Hospital moving its clinics to the Greek Orthodox Church of the Hamptons to accommodate more appointments.

As we enter a new year and come upon the second anniversary of the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, it is time once again to review the most current guidelines for testing, quarantine after exposure, and isolation while infected with Covid-19. This is particularly necessary as the Centers for Disease Control recently updated their guidelines to reflect the latest known data about the rising Omicron variant, which has spread at an incredible pace.

Spurred by an avalanche of positive Covid-19 cases over the holiday season among families, kids, and teachers, virus-related impacts have been fast and furious in coming to South Fork schools.