Health

County Executive Steve Bellone said on Friday that he had signed executive orders to plan for a day of special observance for Juneteenth beginning next year and to extend the implicit bias training now being received in the police department to all county employees, and for it to be completed in one year.

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. 

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced on Thursday that he will sign an executive order allowing the State Liquor Authority to immediately suspend liquor licenses for bars or restaurants found to be violating the state's Covid-19 rules and regulations. A related executive order will make bars responsible for the sidewalk or "outside area immediately in front of their premises."

Local officials appeared perplexed this week by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's concerns that public safety requirements were not being enforced on the South Fork.

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.

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.

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.