Coronavirus

Temperatures are cooling and concern over the coronavirus persists as fall begins, but restaurants in the Town of East Hampton may have an opportunity to extend an unprecedented tourist season by continuing to offer as much as 100 percent of their seating capacity outside.

As to the process of preparing for this unprecedented school year, James Crenshaw said he has a tendency to approach anything by planning for everything. "The understanding is that you're probably going to miss a ton of things," and by going into overdrive at the beginning, there are fewer surprises along the way.

A Southampton Elementary School student has contracted Covid-19, according to the School Covid Report Card, a state website that tracks cases in public and private schools and colleges, but the student had not been on campus and classes had not yet begun before the diagnosis.

Records obtained this week by this newspaper show that Southampton Town has levied three formal charges against one of the event companies that produced a July 25 concert in Water Mill by the Chainsmokers, the chart-topping duo of D.J.s known for catchy electronica anthems and collaborations with other popular artists.

What happened when Covid turned summer frosty? What did people do instead? The pandemic kept many people apart, but it also brought some back together. Some pulled up stakes, some finally put down new roots, and some found the resolve to tackle the next stage of life.

As the humid heat of summer finally starts to give way to crisp autumn mornings, the health care community in general starts to think ahead to the coming winter months when respiratory viruses begin to run amok. 

Since its implementation last year, the Suffolk311 call center for non-emergency inquiries has received over 110,000 calls from residents across the county, 91,661 of them between March and September of this year.

Motivated by the patterns of tobacco use among their peers, a student group called Breathe In Change is renewing its efforts to educate other students about the dangers of tobacco use — including cigarettes in addition to e-cigarettes, according to the students.

"It was too nice of a day, and too good of a band," Mayor Kathleen Mulcahy said of the WLNG-sponsored event on Saturday that was to feature sets by the HooDoo Loungers and Gene Casey and the Lone Sharks. At one point Sag Harbor police counted 175 people in attendance, more than triple the number allowed at outdoor gatherings under an executive order issued by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.

With an influx of vacationers, migrant Manhattanites, and day trippers who ventured east this summer, restaurateurs worked tirelessly to apply the state's health guidelines in ways that could fit their new business models, but even the most prepared in the restaurant industry sometimes struggled to keep up.

After discovering their employees had tested positive for Covid-19, a handful of restaurants in Montauk temporarily closed up shop late last month and early this month to deep clean and retest employees before reopening for business.

I hope that if any of you know anyone who may be struggling with addiction during the pandemic, you might find a quiet moment to offer encouragement, to ask if there's anything you can do to help. Sometimes that's all it takes to get someone headed in the right direction.