The Suffolk County Department of Health Services has paused dispensing of the Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccine at its vaccination dispensing locations, following state and federal recommendations while the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) review data about an extremely rare type of blood clot that has been reported in six people who received that vaccine in the United States.
As of April 12, more than 6.8 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson (Janssen) vaccine have been administered in the U.S. CDC and FDA are reviewing data involving a rare and severe type of blood clot that was reported in six people after receiving the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. All six cases occurred among women between the ages of 18 and 48, and symptoms occurred six to 13 days after vaccination.
Suffolk County officials are not aware of any cases occurring among the approximately 2,000 residents who have received this vaccine through the County Health Department thus far. Those residents who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine who develop severe headache, abdominal pain, leg pain or shortness of breath within three weeks after vaccination should contact their health care practitioners promptly.
“While this issue appears to be extremely rare, CDC and FDA are acting in a very cautious manner that underscores our commitment to vaccine safety,” said Dr. Gregson Pigott, Suffolk County Commissioner of Health Services. “We will be closely monitoring the federal review process and use that information to help guide our efforts here in Suffolk County in the days ahead.”
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine represents about 2% of the total supply of vaccines the Suffolk County Department of Health has received to date, so the pause is not expected to dramatically slow the pace of vaccinations dispensed by Suffolk County. As Suffolk County Department of Health Services does not maintain data on all vaccine providers in Suffolk County, other dispensers may have received and dispensed varying percentages of Johnson & Johnson vaccine in the community.
Residents who currently have appointments to receive the Johnson & Johnson vaccine should watch for a notification from their provider about canceling, postponing or rescheduling the appointment. If your appointment is cancelled, you can look for other vaccination appointments through the Vaccine Locator map, local pharmacies or your area.
CDC will convene a meeting of its Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) on April 14 to further review these cases and assess their potential significance. FDA will review that analysis as it also investigates the cases.
Meanwhile, until that process is complete, Suffolk County health officials will continue to dispense the allocations of Pfizer or Moderna vaccines that the county receives from New York State.
Virtually everyone seems to agree that when the pandemic is finally over, life will not be the same as it was pre-COVID-19. Prominent among the changes will be some degree of working remotely. Before the virus descended, requests to work from home at least part of the week were typically refused by employers. Enter “Zoom” in lock-step with the pathogen.
Technically, Zoom was among us before the virus but only a small segment of the population used the platform. Once we were restrained to our homes, we laypeople discovered how easy and useful it was “to Zoom,” and the name became a verb, much like Xerox or Google. So certainly Zooming will remain with us for a long time to come. But what are its unintended consequences?
For one, there is the phrase that has now entered the English language: Zoom fatigue. We, who are on Zoom regularly and for long periods, understand this term. According to an article in National Geographic, published this past Tuesday and written by Theresa Machemer, new research offers data on this phenomenon to confirm our perceived discomfort.
Here are some interesting bits of information. On average, women report 13.8 percent more Zoom fatigue than men. Here is more: besides long days full of calls with few breaks that are the culprits, the self-view video, the crowd of faces on the screen, the expectation to stay in view of the camera, and the lack of nonverbal cues all tax the brain. I would add to that the lag between what is said and its transmission is tiring for the eyes and frustrating to the point of encouraging us to talk louder, which too is tiring.
OK, so we can agree that remote working has its perks: “no commutes, flexibility to handle household tasks, and easy access to conferences for all workers, including those with disabilities.” To an extent, we can now live where we want to live, and we can attend class even if the school shuts down due to an emergency or natural disaster. (No more snow days, sorry.)
So here is what the scientists who specialize in the interactions between humans and technology developed, according to National Geographic. They created a tool to measure fatigue, called the Zoom Exhaustion and Fatigue Scale, or ZEF. They then used this in large surveys to measure that fatigue, in addition to how long each person spends on Zoom and demographics. Here are four factors that affect teleworkers.
The “lack of nonverbal cues is stressful because people cannot naturally convey or interpret gestures and body language when just their colleagues’ shoulders and heads are visible.” That presents a constant struggle to the viewer for proper communication.
Here is another, perhaps surprising response. “During video calls, people report feeling trapped in one spot so they can stay within view of the webcam.” As a result, they feel stressed, according to the researchers. Further, the default window, in which users see themselves constantly, can cause “mirror anxiety,” a self-consciousness that can result in distraction and has been linked to depression.
Finally, there is something termed “hypergaze,” in which the viewer feels that the other person or people on the call are staring at them, their faces appearing so near and so intense as to cause discomfort for the brain.
The survey confirmed that women who spend more time in meetings, with shorter breaks between them than men, reported greater mirror anxiety and felt more trapped by their video calls.
How to cope: use a standing desk to feel less trapped; an orange filter on the screen may reduce eye strain; take at least ten minute breaks between video calls; ask conferencing companies to limit the maximum display size of heads on the screen; use some form of hybrid scheduling for home-office work.
I cannot let this subject go, however, without thanking the tech companies for making it possible for me to “see” my family members during this separation of more than a year. It has kept us connected and sane.
After a year filled with various kinds of losses in 2020, many residents are coping with emotional burdens, including a calendar filled with anniversaries of painful memories.
Called the anniversary effect, people who have been grieving losses are approaching and, in some cases have passed, the one year anniversary of the death of a family member, the last time they saw a family member in person, or the day they dropped a friend who couldn’t breathe off at a hospital.
“It’s good to acknowledge an anniversary is coming up,” said Mandi Zucker, a licensed social worker with a certificate in grief recovery and in thanatology, which is the study of death and dying. Those who feel comfortable offering their support might want to ask someone who is grieving what they are doing, if they have any plans and how they might spend the day.
Zucker, who is the founder of Inner-Harbor, a center that helps young adults who are grieving, cautioned that reaching out to someone only as an anniversary approaches might backfire.
If the anniversary is the only time someone reaches out, “that might feel disingenuous,” Zucker cautioned. People who are grieving might wonder “where you’ve been for the past year, if you are reaching out as if the other 364 days have not been difficult.”
People eager to provide support to the many residents who are dealing with the symptoms and after effects of grief should first make sure they are comfortable enough with their own lives to respond to their family and friends.
“Don’t ask if you’re not ready to hear it,” Zucker suggested. “If you’re going through something yourself and you’re in a hurry and don’t have the time, don’t ask.”
Support often takes the form of listening, rather than interrupting or talking. Zucker suggests people encourage those who are grieving to speak, without interrupting them, sharing their own anecdotes or judging them.
While it might not sound like long, two minutes is considerably longer than most people can offer their thoughts and feelings, as others typically interrupt well before then.
“There is nothing we can say that’ll fix” grief, Zucker said. “Our goal to be supportive is to let them say more. When you’re talking with them, think about why you are talking.”
Commenting on someone’s experience, by acknowledging that their description sounds sad, scary or painful, gives them an opening to continue to share.
When someone says, “It’s been rough with COVID,” almost everyone can offer their own experiences with the virus, the losses of freedom, and opportunity that they’ve felt, she said. Even though a supporter might want to share their experience to relate, the person who is grieving is likely better off having an opening to continue to share and experience their feelings, Zucker suggested.
Sometimes, just allowing the person to tell you to go away gives people control over a life that seems out of control.
“You can give them space, [but] you can also send an email or text saying that you are still thinking about them,” Zucker said. “You don’t have to imply that they must respond.”
Zucker is a fan of handwritten notes, which provide a material connection when someone doesn’t feel like talking, but can see a physical reminder of their connection to others.
If people notice that someone who is grieving isn’t getting dressed or showering, they can comment on it, letting them “know you see them.”
Zucker has a contrary view to the comment people often receive about being strong. For her, people show strength by being vulnerable, not by masking their feelings.
People who might be experiencing grief might also need to diversify their sources of support and strength. That could include meditating or going for walks.
A Creative Underwater Design
Photo from
Three Village
Garden Club
The Three Village Garden Club will resume its design and horticulture workshops at the Setauket Neighborhood House, 95 Main Street in Setauket next week. The free socially distant workshops will begin at 10 a.m. and be held on the 2nd and 3rd Tuesday of each month. Masks are mandatory. The schedule is as follows:
April 20 —Floral Design Workshop:Mono-Botanic Design
April 27 —Horticulture Workshop:Foolproof Hydrangeas
May 18 — Floral Design Workshop:Creative Underwater Design
May 25 —Horticulture Workshop:Living Lands — Living Lands Environmental Designs
June 15 — Floral Design Workshop:Characteristics of Creative Design and Creative Mass Design
For further information or to register, please call 631-813-5390 or email [email protected].
One U.S. congressman has his eyes on Albany for the 2022 election cycle.
Last week, Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY1) announced his run for New York State governor. To kick off his campaign, Zeldin released a video on his website and to his social media accounts.
“We have two choices,” Zeldin said in the video. “We can raise the white flag and surrender to mediocrity, corruption, coverups, more job losses and even higher taxes. We might as well just turn the lights off. Or we can roll up our sleeves and get to work to save our state. That’s what I’m going to do as New York’s next governor. Let’s do it together and show the world the real New York.”
Zeldin has been openly critical of Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), from the governor’s alleged cover-up of nursing home deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic to the sexual misconduct allegations made against him.
“At the helm of New York’s downfall is Governor Andrew Cuomo, whose disgraceful and deadly nursing home order and cover-up is part of a long line of scandals, lies and harassment,” Zeldin said in a recent campaign email. “Cuomo has abused the power and trust granted to him and it is time for him to immediately exit stage left.”
Zeldin has served as congressman in Congressional District 1 since January 2015.
John T. Mather Memorial Hospital in Port Jefferson. File photo from Mather Hospital
After the New York State Department of Health updated its guidance regarding hospital visitation, John T. Mather Memorial Hospital in Port Jefferson has begun instituting limited visitation.
Beginning on Friday, April 2, visitation hours will now be from 3 p.m. until 6 p.m. every day, and patients may have up to two visitors, with just one allowed at their bedside at any given time.
With the new guidelines, inpatient visitation is only allowed in non-COVID medical and surgical units, critical care unites and adolescent psych.
According to the hospital, visitation for the adult psychiatric unit will be accommodated by instituting two visitation sessions to be determined by the behavioral health staff during the hours of 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.
An adult will be allowed to accompany a patient during their visit to Mather in its outpatient/same day procedure areas and in our emergency room. The visitor will only be allowed to stay with the patient during the intake and discharge process.
The hospital said in a statement that exceptions will only be made in extenuating circumstances as determined by hospital staff.
In January 2020, former President Donald Trump (R) signed an executive order that replaced the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers definition of what is considered a federal body of water under the Waters of the United States rule, known as WOTUS.
In his election campaign, President Joe Biden (D) promised to undo these changes, which are currently under review.
But what does all of this mean for Long Island?
Wetlands are areas where water covers the soil, or is present near the surface of the soil all year for varying periods of time. According to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service report, as at 2004 6% of Long Island was made up of wetlands — that’s about 51,000 acres.
Wetlands, due to their beneficial services to people and wildlife — including providing habitats to multiple species, improving water quality and assisting with flood protections —are among some of the most productive ecosystems in the world.
Photo by James Palumbo
Wetland protections can also create problems for business developers and farmers. One of Trump’s main reasons for passing his executive order in 2020 was to redefine the definitions of which bodies of water could be protected under WOTUS in order to remove legal roadblocks to farmers caused by the need to determine whether water on their land fell under control of the federal government.
“After decades of landowners relying on expensive attorneys to determine what water on their land may or may not fall under federal regulations, our new Navigable Waters Protection Rule strikes the proper balance between Washington and the states in managing land and water resources while protecting our nation’s navigable waters, and it does so within the authority Congress provided,” said EPA administrator, Andrew Wheeler, in a January 2020 news release.
Now, due to the undoing of restrictions by Trump’s administration, local conservationists are worried about the long-term effects on Long Island’s wetlands.
Coby Klein, a conservationist at the Huntington-Oyster Bay Audubon Society and adjunct professor of Natural Sciences at Baruch College, said that Long Island’s wetlands are beneficial to both the community and the organisms that dwell in them, and they need to be preserved.
“Wetlands provide protection from flooding, especially the coastal wetlands, the salt marshes and things like that,” he said. “They also help work to mitigate climate change. When plants die in these wetland areas, they don’t decompose very quickly. They serve as what’s called a carbon sink. Instead of carbon being put back into the atmosphere when a plant dies, it gets stored in the soil and in the muck in the water.”
Victoria O’Neill, Long Island Sound Study habitat restoration coordinator at the state Department of Environmental Conservation, is another local conservationist who confirms that healthy wetlands are important to Long Island.
“Tidal wetlands provide many different ecosystem services to Long Island communities,” she said. “They help provide protection from coastal storm surge, improve water quality, provide recreational enjoyment and serve as nesting, breeding and resting grounds for commercial and recreationally important fish and shellfish.”
With all of the benefits wetlands provide to Long Island communities and ecosystems, why did the federal government want to push back on protecting them? Klein said it is because, “they get in the way.”
“When there’s any type of pollution that gets into a body of water, it ends up in a wetland,” Klein said.“That’s bad news for the things that grow there and live there. Salt marshes are very susceptible to nitrogen pollution, and that’s a big problem on Long Island because almost everybody around here fertilizes their lawns, and they tend to overfertilize.”
He added that because of the high volume of sewage systems on Long Island, the excess fertilizer from people’s lawns and farmers’ fields tends to go from the sewage systems to large bodies of water and then eventually into rivers and wetlands. This causes excess nitrogen that is detrimental to those ecosystems.
Photo by James Palumbo
Under Trump’s redefinition of protected waters under WOTUS, it has become easier for developers and farmers to make those kinds of damages to wetlands but, according to the DEC, New York is taking great steps forward as a leader in the efforts to protect state wetlands and their invaluable natural habitat.
“It is estimated that the Navigable Waters Protection Rule will remove federal protections for about half the nation’s wetlands,” the state DEC said in a 2020 statement. “Thankfully, existing strong protections of waters in New York state will reduce the impact of the Navigable Waters Protection Rule compared to many other states. However, not all wetlands are protected under New York law and we rely on federal protection and our water quality certification review to protect smaller wetlands. Recent changes in the definition of Waters of the United States have resulted in fewer of these smaller wetlands receiving any regulatory protection.”
According to O’Neill, active steps are being taken to restore wetland habitats that have been lost.
“The tidal wetland ecosystem target in the LISS’s 2015 Comprehensive Conservation & Management Plan set a goal to restore 515 additional acres of tidal wetlands by 2035 from a 2014 baseline,” she said. “As of 2020, we are 15.5% toward our goal.”
Klein said that restoration projects are time sensitive and need to happen as soon as possible.
“Wetlands provide us with all kinds of important ecosystem services and even more important than that, they’re just pleasant places,” he said. “We should try to preserve them simply because there are so many creatures besides us that depend on them. So even if they didn’t do all this important stuff for us, we should still try to conserve them because they do important things for other species.”
The governor has asked the New York State Police Hate Crimes Task Force to offer assistance in a Setauket vandalism incident that involved anti-Semitic graffiti.
In an April 10 press release from Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s (D) office, it was announced that he directed the task force to offer assistance to the Suffolk County Police Department Hate Crimes Unit in the investigation of anti-Semitic graffiti that was found on playground slides on the grounds of Setauket Elementary School April 4.
“I am appalled at media reports on the discovery of anti-semitic graffiti on Setauket Elementary School’s playground equipment on Long Island,” Cuomo said in the press release. “This hateful graffiti is diametrically opposed to the values of tolerance and understanding that are pillars of the society we’ve built in New York State, and the fact that it was found in a place of learning for young children makes it even more disturbing. I am directing the New York State Police Hate Crimes Task Force to immediately offer assistance in the investigation being conducted by the Suffolk County Police Department Hate Crimes Unit, and I look forward to seeing the people responsible for this crime brought to justice.”
In an April 5 letter to school district families, Superintendent Cheryl Pedisich said a community member alerted the district that the school’s playground slides had been vandalized with anti-Semitic graffiti and inappropriate language. The graffiti was cleaned before students returned to school April 6.
“The district takes these matters very seriously and does not condone the use or promotion of hateful messages or references on our campus or elsewhere,” Pedisich said in the letter. “This type of reprehensible and criminal behavior, and the destruction of district property will not be tolerated.”
The superintendent asked that anyone who had information on the incident to reach out to the district or SCPD. She also encouraged families to discuss the negative consequences of such an act with children.
According to SCPD, there has been an investigation since police responded to the school on April 4 at approximately 12:05 p.m. The hate crimes unit does not believe the incident was aimed at one specific individual.
Students from the Stony Brook Medicine Healthy Libraries Program will soon be visiting Com-sewogue Public Library for two special HeLP events designed for community members of all ages.
The students, who are currently training in the fields of social work, public health, and nutrition, will be available outside on the Library grounds on both April 14 and May 12, from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. to provide information and answer questions on a wide variety of vital topics, including how to find community resources, reliable health information, fill out paperwork for social services and find housing.
During the first hour of each HeLP event, the Long Island Cares Mobile Food Pantry Van will be on-site giving out free food, while supplies last. All are welcome and no ID is required.
The Stony Brook Medicine Healthy Libraries Program is a partnership between the Public Libraries of Suffolk County, a unique group of healthcare professionals, and graduate student interns working together to provide access to both in-person and virtual healthcare-related resources for public library patrons throughout Suffolk County.
Comsewogue Public Library is located at 170 Terryvillle Road, Port Jefferson Station. In case of in-clement weather, the events will be moved inside. For questions, call the Library at 631-928-1212, option 3.
Courtesy of Jennifer Quirk-Senyk, adult services librarian at Comsewogue Public Library
A statue of Joseph Dwyer in Rocky Point. File photo by Kyle Barr
By Chris Cumella
As the deadline for approval of New York State’s final budget approached on April 1, U.S. Congressman Lee Zeldin (R-NY1) joined the state Senate Republican Conference March 24 on a call to action from Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) to restore funding for the PFC Joseph P. Dwyer Peer Support Program for veterans.
The Dwyer program was introduced in 2012 by Zeldin, then a state senator and a U.S. Army veteran himself, having served in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Essential health support was provided to veterans in the state. Zeldin’s home county of Suffolk was among the first to utilize the program.
The program has received bipartisan support from local governments up to the State Capitol. However, funding has been omitted in this year’s Cuomo budget proposal.
“It has been an honor to help lead the effort to take a model here in New York and try to expand it nationally,” Zeldin said. “Every veteran in every corner of America deserves to have that resource available to them.”
According to Zeldin and the Republican Conference, the operation was labeled as “immensely impactful” based on the ability to provide various mental health services designed to help veterans reintegrate back into civilian life.
The program was named in honor of Dwyer, an Army combat medic in the Iraq War who was in an iconic 2003 photo carrying a young Iraqi boy away from danger.
After Dwyer’s return home from service overseas, he struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder. He died in 2008.
The Dwyer program stands as a peer-to-peer support model, which provides a safe, confidential and educational platform where all veterans meet in support of each other’s successful transition to post-service life.
The program also seeks to help aid “vet-to-vet relationships” to enhance positive change through shared experiences, a process combined with learning and personal growth.
“As a combat veteran, I fully understand the difference the services provided by the Joseph P. Dwyer program can make in the lives of our veterans who are struggling,” said state Senate Republican Leader Robert Ortt, an Army National Guard veteran who served in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. “The need for these critically important services has never been more important, and they should be made permanent.”
On March 15, the state Senate majority proposed funding of up to $4.5 million for the Dwyer program, which is the same funding level adopted in 2020-21. However, the state Assembly majority has proposed $6.05 million in funding.
Suffolk County alone has been described as having “one of the largest veteran populations in the nation” by state Sen. Anthony Palumbo (R-New Suffolk).
Two local beneficiaries of the Dwyer program felt the experience was well worthwhile.
“I was struggling with both substance use and abuse and thoughts of self-harm as well as a suicide attempt,” said Smithtown resident Robert Carrazzo in a Zeldin press release. “The Dwyer program and those involved helped me battle all this, and now I am over five years sober, have a family, two degrees and a new career.”
“I was a single mom who was furloughed and attending grad school online, which was taxing on my mental health,” said Northport resident Danielle Koulermos in the same press release. “The Dwyer program grew into a sisterhood of support and guidance geared toward the needs of us as female veterans.”
“Playing games with our veterans’ lives is unacceptable,” Zeldin said. “Not only must full funding for the Dwyer program be restored in this year’s final budget, but this program’s funding must become a permanent component of all future state budgets.”
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