Coronavirus

It takes more than a pandemic to stop East Hampton's public access television service, which has emerged as an important source of information. 

Many businesses have struggled to survive during the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent economic shutdown, but one niche industry is witnessing solid sales. Bait and tackle shops around Long Island have seen a significant uptick in business as more people take up fishing as a social distancing pastime.

Restaurants are allowed to welcome guests indoors now that Long Island has entered phase three of reopening as of Wednesday, but because of safety concerns, several East End eateries are opting to stick with outdoor dining and takeout instead.

In mid-April, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, Suffolk County was reporting more than 1,000 new cases per day, but on Tuesday reported just 46 new cases. As the infection rate has slowed here, people concerned that they have been exposed to the virus are more likely to be tested at an outpatient lab, clinic, or doctor's office than at a drive-through test site, and the cost for testing can vary. 

On the heels of Long Island entering the third phase of New York's economic recovery plan on Wednesday, effective at midnight, travelers arriving in New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey from nine different states must quarantine for 14 days.

Nurses and other health care workers lobbying to receive crisis pay from Stony Brook Southampton Hospital and Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital picketed outside the two facilities on Wednesday to make the community aware of their efforts.

Even as the spread of Covid-19 appears increasingly under control in Suffolk, County Executive Steve Bellone said a deepening financial crisis has already led to budget cuts, salary freezes, and even a potential ballot referendum in November.

The number of people receiving hospital care for Covid-19 in Suffolk County fell to 90 on Sunday, marking the first period since March 22 that there have been fewer than 100 hospitalizations.

After a period in which no new Covid-19 cases were seen in East Hampton Town, county figures released on Friday showed an uptick of seven.

County Executive Steve Bellone said on Friday that he had signed executive orders to plan for a day of special observance for Juneteenth beginning next year and to extend the implicit bias training now being received in the police department to all county employees, and for it to be completed in one year.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced on Thursday that he will sign an executive order allowing the State Liquor Authority to immediately suspend liquor licenses for bars or restaurants found to be violating the state's Covid-19 rules and regulations. A related executive order will make bars responsible for the sidewalk or "outside area immediately in front of their premises."

As school ends, it's uncertain whether many camps here will open at all and what they will look like even if they do. Camp directors are looking to remake the experience while retaining what makes it special.