Health

New York State Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said this week that when 70 percent of the state's adult population has gotten at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine most of the remaining pandemic restrictions will be lifted. While much of the rest of New York State has yet to reach that mark, East Hampton Town has already surpassed it, Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc announced Tuesday.

"I remember exactly what I was wearing, I remember exactly who was in the class, and I remember how hard I cried," said Colleen Saidman Yee of Yoga Shanti of the day in March 2020 when she closed her Sag Harbor yoga studio because of the pandemic. After barely surviving a 15-month shutdown, Yoga Shanti in Sag Harbor is seeking to regain its footing with new protocols designed to make students breathe easy about returning to group classes.

Bridgehampton School's fifth-grade book club battled a dragon over the past year and three months, though this particular creature wasn't the scaly, fire-breathing type from fantasy lore. It was worse. Their dragon went by the name Covid-19, and the battles played out in letters the students wrote that are on display at the Hampton Library.

Following new recommendations and a clarification from the Centers for Disease Control, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced that New York would modify its mask guidance to allow schools to opt out of requiring masks outside. And in general, virtually all Covid-19 restrictions can be lifted once 70 percent of adult New Yorkers have received at least one dose of the vaccine

News that fully vaccinated people could go without masks and stop social distancing in most settings has been met with unbridled joy by many, but questions remain. Among them, what, if anything, is recommended when it comes to testing vaccinated people for Covid-19.

The American College of Surgeons certified that Stony Brook Southampton has the right equipment, resuscitative capabilities, blood bank protocols, and surgeons and emergency physicians who are trained in advanced life support and who commit to responding to severe cases within 30 minutes of a patient's arrival.

If, like most Americans, you have been waiting with bated breath for signs that the Covid-19 pandemic is winding down and that a return to normalcy has finally arrived, then you probably heaved a great sigh of relief at some point over the past two weeks as the Centers for Disease Control announced that vaccinated individuals could dispense with wearing masks in most settings. On May 19, New York followed suit and adopted the same guidelines, except where certain municipalities, businesses, schools, and settings such as hospitals or doctors' offices still require them.

Joanne Goerler didn't want to retire in January from her teaching job at the John M. Marshall Elementary School, where she had worked since 1989, but she didn't really have a choice. The Covid-19 pandemic posed a life-threatening risk to her immune system, which had been compromised by a blood cancer called myelodysplastic syndrome, a surprise diagnosis Ms. Goerler received in the spring of 2018 after having some routine bloodwork.

On Wednesday for the first time since Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo imposed an executive order 13 months ago requiring face coverings in public, people could go into a store or a walk down Main Street without a mask -- provided they were fully vaccinated. The change comes as the number of vaccinated people continues to grow and the infection rate across the state and here in Suffolk County drops to levels not seen since September and October.

Dr. Gail Schonfeld of East End Pediatrics will run a youth vaccine clinic this weekend in response to the federal government's May 10 announcement expanding emergency use athorization for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to include adolescents 12 to 15 years of age. Previously, children had to be 16 or over to receive shots.

It is that time of year again here on the East End of Long Island, when the phones in doctors' offices start to ring seemingly constantly with patients calling with questions about tick bites.

Effective Wednesday in New York, people who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 no longer need to wear masks or physically distance, both indoors and out. Immunocompromised and unvaccinated people should continue to wear a mask and practice social distancing, and masks will still be required in schools and correctional and health care facilities, on public transportation and in nursing homes and homeless shelters.