Coronavirus

Oh, what a year it was. If you had written a movie pitch for 2020, few people would have bought it. Too far-fetched, they'd say. Not possible. After a sunny New Year's Day when thousands gathered at East Hampton's Main Beach to dive into the ocean or watch others do so at the annual polar plunge, the year took a decidedly different turn.

As the year comes to a close and a new one begins we celebrate people who went above and beyond to make their communities a better place in 2020's darkest of days. These are but a few of the many who inspired us this year through their strength, kindness, resilience, and bravery. 

Andrew M. Cuomo announced updated quarantine guidelines for New York State on Tuesday, aligning them with those of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The battles we fight, from the surge here in New York in the spring to the bigger surge in spots across the country this summer, to the cresting wave from coast to coast that we are struggling against right now, are all battering down our defenses. But the vaccines offer hope, and every health care worker I know is sprinting like mad to get one.

George Dempsey, medical director of East Hampton Family Medicine, told The Star on Wednesday that a suite dedicated to testing for the novel coronavirus will open shortly after Christmas at the health care provider’s office at 200 Pantigo Place in East Hampton.

Four out of five East Hampton Middle School students agree: Going to school during the Covid-19 pandemic is tougher than it was before. Also, a disclaimer: In no way is that a scientific statistic, as the sample size was pretty limited, but the point is still accurate, according to the students themselves.

"There were more things to do that we can't do now," Emma Hand, a sixth grader, recalled during a Google Meet interview last week. "It's a little bit harder, but at least we get to go to school."

There will be no organized fund-raising New Year's Day plunges here this year, an unfortunate result of the coronavirus pandemic that hit our shores the better part of a year ago.

"Living room" spread of Covid-19 now accounts for about 75 percent of the virus’s transmission, New York State Governor Andrew M. Cuomo said on Monday afternoon as he announced fine-tuned vaccination programs and precautions against the threat of a new Covid-19 strain spreading overseas. “Everything else is relatively de minimis” in terms of the risk of spreading the virus, he said, “and we’re in the heat of the holiday season.”

Covid-19 continued to surge this week, with 1,034 new Suffolk County cases confirmed on Monday. That represents 7.2 percent of the 14,282 test results that came in that day; the seven-day average positive test rate was 7.2 percent as well. 

In partnership with the Suffolk County Department of Health Services, the East Hampton School District has continued to test its students and staff members for Covid-19, turning up zero positive cases out of what are now 290 tests.

During the first surge of cases in New York in the spring, so many of us in the health care field fought tooth and nail to uphold our sacred oath to heal and keep death at bay. Many of those under our care died, and with each one of those who passed away under our watch, a piece of our hearts died as well. We thought it would be worth the heartache because the rest of the country would learn from our experiences and be better prepared. But here we are again.

Suffolk County will use $1.6 million in federal funds to provide grants for East End small businesses and renters economically impacted by the pandemic, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone announced on Friday.