Coronavirus Updates | East End Beacon

A handwritten sign at the Mattituck CVS on Tuesday informing customers the pharmacy does not know when it will be getting more at-home Covid-19 test kits.

Covid-19: County Testing Site Details; Local Gov’ts Adapt to Omicron

December 28, 2021January 2, 2022 Beth Young

Pictured Above: A handwritten sign at the Mattituck CVS on Tuesday informing customers the pharmacy does not know when it will be getting more at-home Covid-19 test kits. Update: Jan. 1, 2022: By Dec. 30, the Covid-19 positivity rate in Suffolk County surged further to 27.6 percent, with 6,547 new cases recorded that day, out of 23,683 total tests. The county had reported three new fatalities that day, bringing the

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Suffolk Covid Spike Prompts New Testing Sites

December 22, 2021December 22, 2021 Beth Young

Suffolk County's Covid-19 positivity rate spiked to 13.7 percent on Monday, the highest positivity rate reported since "the early days of the pandemic," according to Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone, who held his first Covid-19 briefing in months on Dec. 21. As the highly contagious Omicron variant of the virus becomes the dominant variant here, the county is planning to set up testing sites at Gabreski Airport in Westhampton Beach

A CDC artist rendering of the Covid-19 coronavirus

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Covid Surge to Collide With Christmas

December 19, 2021December 19, 2021 Beth Young

As we sat down to Thanksgiving dinners, hoping for a return to a new version of normal, the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus was just beginning to wreak havoc on the other side of the world. Now, just three weeks later, Suffolk County is seeing a definitive surge in Covid-19 cases, as national public health experts warn the public to be cautious in their Christmas celebrations in the week

Coronavirus Updates Editorial Opinion

Editorial: Get Ready for What Comes After Another Covid Winter

December 2, 2021January 15, 2022 Beth Young

This season of thanks, now two years into a global pandemic, is one inevitably tinged with sorrow. You don’t have to have lost someone you’ve loved to reflect back with a wistful sigh on the loss of innocence, or of trust, or of just the simple twinge of a new strangeness to handshakes and hugs from friends at the holidays. We’ve all changed. The optimists here at Beacon headquarters spend

Coronavirus Updates East Hampton Government

East Hampton To Halt In-Person Meetings Due to Delta Spread

September 7, 2021September 7, 2021 Beth Young

The East Hampton Town Board and appointed boards (Planning Board, Zoning Board of Appeals, and Architectural Review Board) will stop holding in-person meetings and shift back to virtual meetings as of Sept. 7, 2021. Virtual meeting technology (ZOOM) and a call-in public comment number, utilized throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, will be available. While former Governor Andrew Cuomo's March 2020 executive order that suspended state law requiring in-person government meetings expired

Dr. Fauci’s cavalry began to arrive on the East End this week in the form of Covid-19 vaccine clinics like one that delivered 1,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine to Southold seniors on Thursday. Hear more at 10 a.m. this morning in “Behind the Headlines” on WLIW FM 88.3

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New Covid Vaccination Efforts Afoot

August 5, 2021August 5, 2021 Beth Young

In the wake of the closure last week of the New York State Covid-19 mass vaccination site at Stony Brook Southampton College, several other vaccination efforts are popping up throughout the region, particularly in Riverhead, where vaccination rates continue to lag. Riverhead Town will hold a two-day vaccination clinic on Thursday, Aug. 12 and Friday, Aug. 13 at the town's Senior Center on Shade Tree Lane in Aquebogue, while Peconic

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Covid Vaccine Eligibility Age Drops to 30 in New York

March 30, 2021April 6, 2021 Beth Young

After two months of frustration and very little access, Covid-19 vaccines began making their way to the East End in March, as supply of the vaccines loosened up across the nation. As March began, seniors over the age of 65 and some frontline workers were eligible to receive the vaccine in New York, but due to an earlier decision by Governor Andrew Cuomo’s office, only mass vaccination sites and pharmacies

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Dr. Fauci’s Vaccine Cavalry Arrives on the East End

March 9, 2021March 10, 2021 Beth Young

Pictured Above: Covid-19 vaccine clinics like one that delivered 1,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine to Southold seniors on Thursday, March 4 have been popping up all over the East End. More and more Covid-19 vaccination clinics are on the horizon on the East End in the upcoming weeks, as eligibility criteria begins to widen and more vaccines begin making their way to the states. New Yorkers over the age

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Thiele: Suffolk to Open Vaccination Centers to Seniors

March 1, 2021March 1, 2021 Beth Young

After weeks of lobbying by local elected officials, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo issued an Executive Order Friday, Feb. 26 that will finally permit county health departments to provide the Covid-19 vaccine at their distribution locations to senior citizens over the age of 65. "Previously, they were inexplicably prohibited from vaccinating seniors. This is a major shift in providing the vaccine to older and more vulnerable New Yorkers and

Kisa King, Resident in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Stony Brook University Hospital receives the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine, administered by Ian Pak, Pharmacist at Stony Brook University Hospital.

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Covid Vaccine Remains Elusive Here

February 23, 2021February 23, 2021 Beth Young

Pictured Above: Kisa King, Resident in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Stony Brook University Hospital receives the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine at Stony Brook University Hospital in December. As The Beacon's March edition was going to press in late February, the sorry state of the Covid-19 vaccine rollout on the East End was still the topic of top concern on the minds of residents here, with a

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Southold Demands Change to Vaccination Program

February 15, 2021February 15, 2021 Beth Young

Pictured Above: Outside Southold Town Hall Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell issued a scathing rebuke of the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccination program on Friday, which has left both North and South Forkers with few local options for receiving the vaccine. "The current state process for distribution of the Covid-19 vaccine is an outrage and it needs to change now," said Mr. Russell in a Feb. 12 statement. "The current