Health

While the Covid-19 pandemic has brought business at East End hotels to a virtual standstill, several owners said this week that they are expecting an influx of guests this summer and will retool operations to accommodate them safely.

“It was a war. I would not wish this experience on anyone,” Stephen Rosen said, but family, friends, faith, and good fortune helped him and his wife get through it.

Couples all over have been left scrambling, deciding either to call off or reschedule their weddings as pandemic-related closures persist.

East Hampton Town will begin enforcing summer beach parking regulations on Friday, April 24, weeks earlier than the regulations usually take effect, in order to forestall overcrowding at beaches and in parks during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Suffolk County's number of new confirmed Covid-19 cases went up again on Wednesday to 844, contributing to a new total of 29,588, and an end to a three-day decline in new cases.

County Executive Steve Bellone acknowledged in Wednesday's press briefing that this was an increase from the 587 cases reported on Tuesday, which had been the lowest number of positive daily test results achieved since March 26. 

A brigade of sewers and cutters is turning donated fabric into 1,600 protective masks outfitted with surgical-grade filters for East Hampton health care workers, first responders, and essential personnel in the town and village.

At one point the county was seeing at or more than 1,000 new confirmed cases every day. From Monday to Tuesday, that number dropped to 587, the lowest since March 26.

Private golf clubs, while still deemed nonessential, have been allowed to reopen to their members, the governor said, with restrictions.

The ferries connecting the South and North Forks with Shelter Island now require that all customers wear a mask or facial covering, even inside their cars.

On Sunday afternoon, County Executive Steve Bellone reported receiving word of 132 more deaths, bringing the county's total to 825.

Confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Suffolk County jumped by more than 1,200 to 26,702, but hospitalizations in the county have been down for the past three days, indicating a possible plateau.

A team of more than 100 people have been rushing to provide medical workers with 10,000 isolation gowns, which have been in high demand and short supply as the Covid-19 pandemic rages.