Coronavirus

While the cancellation of big summer events and limits on social gatherings put a major dent in their business, caterers on the East End report that things are picking up in a different way as wedding couples and private clients find ways to cut down their guests lists to hold more intimate celebrations.

The novel coronavirus causing Covid-19 has the ability to affect many body systems and can lead to such a wide variety of symptoms that it is difficult to say without a test whether certain symptoms are those of a cold or Covid.

The Montauk School will be closed on Wednesday and Thursday after a teacher was identified Tuesday afternoon as having contracted Covid-19.

Another confirmed case of Covid-19 in a student at the John M. Marshall Elementary School in East Hampton was reported late Friday afternoon, the third such case to come to light in the last nine days, and right after that came word of a case at the Springs School.

New York State is forming an independent advisory task force of scientists, doctors, and health experts that will review every Covid-19 vaccine authorized by the federal government and advise on its safety and effectiveness.

Dr. Fredric I. Weinbaum, Stony Brook Southampton Hospital's chief medical officer and chief operating officer, provided an overview of the Covid-19 pandemic and discussed how the medical system was better positioned to manage if a fall or winter resurgence occurs.

One case of Covid-19 in the first grade at the John M. Marshall Elementary School last week wasn't enough to shut down school in East Hampton, but a second case in second grade, confirmed on Tuesday, led school officials to close the entire district Wednesday. That afternoon, the district informed parents that students who share the classroom with the Covid-positive second grader and that classroom's head teacher will have to quarantine for 14 days.

After being notified of a second confirmed case of Covid-19 in a student at the John M. Marshall Elementary School, the East Hampton School District has decided to close the elementary school, middle school, and high school on Wednesday "out of an abundance of caution," the district said in an email and voice memo sent to parents on Tuesday afternoon.

Without federal assistance, the county will be forced to make significant reductions in transit services in the 2021 budget, and could eliminate 19 bus routes, including the 10C, which loops between East Hampton and Montauk, and the 10B, which loops between East Hampton, Springs, and Bridgehampton.

The East Hampton School District on Saturday announced that what had been a suspected case of Covid-19 in a student is now a confirmed case at John M. Marshall Elementary School.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo delivered some of his sharpest criticism of President Trump and his administration’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic on Thursday, repeatedly calling the federal government’s response incompetent and accusing the president of politicizing and lying about the crisis. 

There's still a touch of summer in the East Hampton air, which is a fitting backdrop to the summer-style, off-season sports workouts that will resume this coming week in the East Hampton School District.