When she was young, Shannon Cecilia Whelan was a crew member aboard a steel barge owned by her parents' marine construction business. A lover of all things water — sailing, fishing, surfing — Ms. Whelan, formerly of Sag Harbor, was the namesake for the barge. A mother of three children, she died in 2019 at the age of 38.

I remember the underscore of terror in the early days of the pandemic, wondering if my working in an I.C.U. and taking care of some of the first patients with Covid-19 in our region was going to endanger my family. Eighteen months later, I can hardly believe that I am watching a friend and colleague deftly vaccinate all four of my children against Covid-19.

Following the introduction of paid parking this summer at Long Wharf in Sag Harbor, the Sag Harbor Village Board presented an elaborate report on the somewhat controversial initiative at Tuesday's board meeting.

Now that children 5 to 11 are eligible to receive Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine — the first that has been approved for pediatric administration in the United States — medical professionals and government officials here and across Long Island are quickly putting plans in place to meet families' needs.