Health

As to the process of preparing for this unprecedented school year, James Crenshaw said he has a tendency to approach anything by planning for everything. "The understanding is that you're probably going to miss a ton of things," and by going into overdrive at the beginning, there are fewer surprises along the way.

Records obtained this week by this newspaper show that Southampton Town has levied three formal charges against one of the event companies that produced a July 25 concert in Water Mill by the Chainsmokers, the chart-topping duo of D.J.s known for catchy electronica anthems and collaborations with other popular artists.

A recent round of water quality testing in Montauk shows that harmful algal blooms in Fort Pond and Big Reed Pond are dissipating while many other water bodies in Montauk, East Hampton, Springs, and Amagansett have low bacteria counts.

As the humid heat of summer finally starts to give way to crisp autumn mornings, the health care community in general starts to think ahead to the coming winter months when respiratory viruses begin to run amok. 

Over the furious objection of one member and after prolonged argument, the East Hampton Town Board agreed on Tuesday that a detailed environmental review is not needed for zoning change to allow a Stony Brook Southampton Hospital emergency room annex to be built on Pantigo Place.

What happened when Covid turned summer frosty? What did people do instead? The pandemic kept many people apart, but it also brought some back together. Some pulled up stakes, some finally put down new roots, and some found the resolve to tackle the next stage of life.

Motivated by the patterns of tobacco use among their peers, a student group called Breathe In Change is renewing its efforts to educate other students about the dangers of tobacco use — including cigarettes in addition to e-cigarettes, according to the students.

Until Friday, when news of the postponement was publicized by Section XI, school sports were to have started on Sept. 21. Each "lower-risk" team, including tennis, soccer, swimming, golf, and cross-country, was to have an abbreviated season with 10 to 12 games each instead of 16 games. Football, cheerleading, and volleyball had not yet been given the green light, and now the light is red for all sports until January.

After discovering their employees had tested positive for Covid-19, a handful of restaurants in Montauk temporarily closed up shop late last month and early this month to deep clean and retest employees before reopening for business.

I hope that if any of you know anyone who may be struggling with addiction during the pandemic, you might find a quiet moment to offer encouragement, to ask if there's anything you can do to help. Sometimes that's all it takes to get someone headed in the right direction.

The angry exchanges resumed on Tuesday when the East Hampton Town Board again discussed Stony Brook Southampton Hospital's planned emergency room annex ahead of a vote on the proposal's environmental impact that is expected next Tuesday. 

One sample collected in East Hampton Town sometime between Aug. 25 and Aug. 27 tested positive, according to an announcement Friday from the Suffolk County Department of Health Services.