Coronavirus

District officials in East Hampton, Sag Harbor, Bridgehampton, Montauk, Springs, and Sagaponack have all fielded inquiries from new families who are considering placing their children in schools here due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Several key initiatives were announced by local, county, and state officials on Thursday, paving the way for restaurants to offer increased outdoor dining and for private business owners to officially refuse service to people not wearing masks.

A Southampton Covid testing site will continue with county funding, Stony Brook Southampton Hospital is offering telehealth visits for rehabilitation services, and elective surgeries will begin in June.

The $100 million program will provide low-interest loans to small business owners, nonprofits like day care centers and food banks, and residential landlords who did not receive one of the federal loans offered earlier. Eighteen percent of the money will be set aside for Long Island.

Suffolk will “show that we will have the pathway forward to continue reopening the other parts of our economy as quickly as possible,” the county executive predicted.

"With the current health crisis, it would be impossible to have a fair that would be safe for the public and our members," the Ladies Village Improvement Society's board wrote.

As with nearly everything else in the Northeast, private jet travel has declined during the Covid-19 pandemic, but not by as much as one might assume.

Administrators at Northwell Health and the real estate firm Engel Burman accelerated the launch of their Wellbridge Addiction Treatment and Research Center in Calverton because of the Covid-19 pandemic, they announced on May 18, as the facility opened its doors.

Plans are in development to bring a Covid-19 testing site to Montauk, East Hampton Town Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc announced on Friday.

On Saturday, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone announced Long Island will likely begin phase one of reopening the economy on Wednesday as long as current trends continue in the slowdown of Covid-19.

East Hampton Town and Village will have strict protocols in place as their beaches open on a limited basis this weekend.

State and county officials expect Long Island to fulfill the seven metrics for reopening the economy early next week, as the spread of Covid-19 increasingly appears to be under control.