The news about the city folk emptying the South Fork supermarkets is frightening.

The guaranteed way to get through the Covid-19 era is distraction. Here an accomplished physicist diverts you from thinking about the coronavirus with puzzles, problems, wisdom, and humor.

"Houston, we have arugula!” Mary cried after hanging up with One Stop Market, which has been wonderful, providing curb service during these trying times.     

The Retreat shelter and the East Hampton Library have collaborated to offer an online program for high school students on navigating relationships while social distancing. It will be streamed Thursday afternoon at 4:30, and registration is via a sign-up button on the library's calendar pages.     

With elected officials likening the fight against Covid-19 to a “war,” you might also compare Nancy Nano to Rosie the Riveter, or Urban Reininger to Uncle Sam, or think of local libraries as home-grown victory gardens.   

After her grandson’s wedding in Italy was foiled by the Covid-19 crisis, Carolyn Snyder and her family, the owners of Round Swamp Farm in East Hampton, decided to spread some love here at home by delivering homemade soups and groceries, including chickens, eggs, milk, and pantry staples, to those who are housebound.     

Even as the hospital continues to marshal resources to deal with the virus, “We are not stopping any of the emergency services that we do,” Robert Chaloner, the hospital’s chief administrative officer, said by phone on Tuesday.     

Rallies, pressing the flesh, hitting the campaign trail — these time-honored electoral traditions have been put aside, at least for now, as the Covid-19 pandemic upends the country. Campaigns have gone virtual in New York’s First Congressional District, where several candidates are vying for the Democratic Party’s nomination to challenge the incumbent, Representative Lee Zeldin.     

The ban on restaurant dining during the Covid-19 pandemic has decimated the South Fork restaurant business, according to Mark Smith, a co-owner of the Honest Man Restaurant Group, and Jason Weiner, a co-owner of Almond in Bridgehampton. Both have had to lay off employees in order to remain finacially strong enough to reopen after the crisis has passed.     

The editor and writer Bill Henderson of Springs has won a 2020 Award for Distinguished Service to the Arts, the American Academy of Arts and Letters announced last week.

“Our focus today is on what is true right now, to focus on the actual moment rather than letting the stories of your mind take you to a place that is not necessarily true,” Leslie Pearlman said in her virtual yoga class. 

An East End institution, Organizacion Latino Americana, is digging deep for the needs of children and families currently in crisis, with the help of volunteers and donors.     

As Warren Zevon’s song “Splendid Isolation” plays in my head I continue to cook, cook, cook, and explore our new world very carefully.     

Class warfare in the Hamptons gets personal, and dark, in Jason Allen’s debut novel, “The East End,” now out in convenient paperback for your reading pleasure.

The East Hampton Library's Long Island Collection Item of the Week focuses on the architectural blueprint for the 1910 Woodhouse bungalow in East Hampton.

The Eleanor Whitmore Early Childhood Center is now offering child care at no cost to families of essential workers, including, among others, health care professionals, food service employees, utility workers, and first responders.  

Candidates for office in the upcoming East Hampton Village elections will no longer be able to circulate nominating petitions, under an executive order issued on Monday by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.     

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo last week clarified what “essential” means for contractors, halting most forms of construction through at least April 19 — school construction included. Districts in Springs, Bridgehampton, and Sag Harbor are bumping up against this order.     

Their meetings are not without technical issues, but local school boards have ventured into the world of virtual assemblies and live-streaming on various platforms.     

A resident at a Wainscott group home was arrested early Sunday morning for sexually abusing another resident.