Coronavirus

Ever since shelter-in-place orders took effect, post offices have been inundated with packages and mail at record-breaking volumes, and even as the economy has reopened, volume remains high. In Montauk, the post office has seen package volume double since the start of summer, keeping customers waiting weeks for critical deliveries.

The Sagaponack School has received so many new student inquiries over the last several weeks that the chief school administrator is searching for extra space to supplement the Little Red Schoolhouse's own classrooms.

For those who have been using the pandemic as an excuse to avoid going to the dentist, Dr. David Mambrino, an owner of the East Hampton Dental Group, has a message: "I want people to know that it's safe."

Stony Brook Southampton Hospital on Friday announced that for the first time since March 8, it has no new, suspected, or confirmed Covid-19 patients.

East Hampton Village's ocean beaches are closed to swimming Friday after a shark sighting off Georgica Beach, and East Hampton Town officials have warned prospective beachgoers that popular ocean beach parking lots could again be closed this weekend as they continue to limit beach capacity to comply with Covid-19 safety regulations.

On a normal Monday in a normal July, the Quinipet Camp and Retreat Center on Shelter Island would be buzzing with activity, its lodgings, spread out over 11 buildings on 25 acres, filled with sleepaway campers newly arrived for a week of technology-free summer fun, complete with multimillion-dollar views of Peconic Bay. Now those spectacular views are being offered for a not-so-hefty price tag to families looking for a different sort of retreat.

Seven in 10 New York State voters believe that recovery from the coronavirus pandemic presents an opportunity to realign our relationship with the natural world and plan for future challenges including climate change, according to the Nature Conservancy, which surveyed 640 randomly selected likely voters in June on a range of environmental issues.

It might have been just another big summer event in the Hamptons, except that Saturday's Chainsmokers' concert at Nova's Ark in Bridgehampton took place in a world where concerts and other major events have been silenced by the Covid-19 pandemic. Now the Chainsmokers' event management companies are being investigated.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo called a drive-in concert held Saturday in Bridgehampton "a gross violation of common sense," while Southampton Town officials responded to a state inquiry into the event by saying they were conducting their own investigation.

The New York State Department of Health has opened an investigation into a drive-in Chainsmokers' concert in Bridgeghampton on Saturday night, sending a letter on Monday about it to Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman — whose own band was the opening musical act on Saturday.

Several East Hampton beaches were temporarily closed to late-arriving beachgoers on Saturday as officials tried to enforce Covid-19 restrictions on the busiest day since the Fourth of July weekend. 

East Hampton Town and Sag Harbor Village Justice Courts are closed temporarily after an employee tested positive for Covid-19 earlier this week. Some 155 people who visited the courts between July 6 and July 20 have been notified.