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Yearly Archives: 2020

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Dr. Bettina Fries and her neighbor Agjah Libohova holding new face shields that will soon be put into the PPE pipeline at Stony Brook Medicine and many metro area hospitals. Photo from SBU

By Kyle Barr and David Luces

In other years, the first day of April dawning would have been a time for celebration and maybe a few pranks. This year, during the coronavirus crisis, not many were up for such jubilation. 

In a daily call with reporters, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone (D) said as of today there were now 69 individual deaths from COVID-19 in Suffolk County. 25 of those individuals died in the past 48 hours and 16 in the past day. The vast majority of deaths were of people who had underlying medical issues.

“We are going to get through this but it is going to get worse before it gets better,” said County Executive Steve Bellone. “We all have the power to make this better by practicing social distancing. If you feel sick stay home.”
The total for all of New York was even more staggering, with Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) announcing the morning of April 1 nearly 400 people have died in New York State in the span of 24 hours. 

Cuomo compared it to the movie “Groundhog Day,” where the main character keeps experiences the same day over and over.

“When does it end? how does it end? I don’t know,” he said during his morning press briefing.

In Suffolk, the current number of people confirmed with the virus is 7,605. Currently over 25,000 have been tested, including 5,400 from the Stony Brook site in the South P lot as of Wednesday morning, Bellone said. 

The County Executive also emphasized the 2020 Census, saying as we’re in the midst of this battle, we need to recognize the economic human service impacts. 

“If we don’t do what we need to do we will be experiencing shortfalls in aid for the next 10 years,” Bellone said. “We have to make sure we’re getting those census documents filled out.” 

The county executive added Child Protective Services continues to do house visits and they have done as many interviews as they can telephonically.

“The government does not close — we are here to deal with crises,” he said. “CPS is one of those they are continuing to operate.”

Stony Brook University Begins Drug Trials to Combat Coronavirus

In a COVID-19 briefing update, Stony Brook Medicine officials said that the hospital has begun a number of clinical trials designed to identify effective therapies for critically ill patients.

Remdesivir, an antiviral drug developed to treat two other RNA viruses, Ebola and Marburg, has been administered to two patients with severe coronavirus. The clinical trials on the drug are led by Dr. Sharon Nachman, chief of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Stony Brook Children’s Hospital. Officials said the drug has appeared to be effective in treating COVID-19 in both China and Washington State. 

Doctors will also be involved in a Regeneron-sponsored clinical trial on Sarilumab (Kevzara), a monoclonal antibody which blocks binding of interleukin-6 to its receptor. Sarilumab is already FDA approved for the treatment of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, and more recently for the cytokine storm that accompanies the use of CAR-T cells for acute leukemia. The first Regeneron patient was recruited on March 30. 

Stony Brook Medicine will soon be launching a clinical trial of donated, post-convalescent plasma from COVID-19 patients “very soon,” based on the level of antibody titers to SARS-CoV2 in the donor plasma. Serum or plasma therapy for infectious diseases dates to the 1890s, when serum made from immunized animals provided the first effective treatment for Clostridium tetani and Corynebacterium diphtheriae.

In addition, SBU professor Lily Mujica-Parodi has been part of a national effort to employ a wearable technology device called Oura to collect sufficient physiological data, and use deep learning algorithms to predict the onset of SARS-CoV2 infection. This type of device would be most productive and predictive in hospitals where there is a large number of healthcare workers in high-risk-for-infection roles. 

 LI Company to Begin New Face Shield Production. 

Clear-Vu Lighting, a Central Islip-based design company, will begin manufacturing an order of 20,000 new face shields that will be deployed to Stony Brook University Hospital. Mass production  is expected to start by early April. Clear-Vu Lighting is gearing up with an expectation to produce 40,000 faceshields per day and approximately 1.2 million per month. Production of face shields to Stony Brook will include supplies for Stony Brook University Hospital and all affiliated hospitals on Long Island. 

Preventing a Possible Shortage of Ventilators

Due to the projections of the COVID-19 pandemic, Stony Brook University Hospital is suggesting it may be required to use a single ventilator for up to two patients in case there is a shortage once the number of patients is at its peak. In a Stony Brook Medicine research laboratory, medical professionals are working on a solution to ventilating multiple patients with one ventilator. Putting two patients on one ventilator requires matching patients with similar characteristics, such as sex, height, age and lung sizes, to avoid one patient being over ventilated and the other being under ventilated.

Stony Brook said researchers and doctors are examining the forces that cause unequal distribution of lung volumes and airway pressures, while using complex test models of diseased lungs. With this research, doctors are able to vary airway resistance and compliance and mimic acute respiratory distress syndrome-like conditions, which allows to test the use of inline valves and resistance devices to solve these problems. 

Addressing the Growing Need for Additional Staff

To address potential staff shortfalls, the medical school is preparing to allow graduating students to volunteer on the front lines of the epidemic while awaiting the eventual surge of patients.

The Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University is allowing senior medical students to graduate in early April so they can begin their professional career as a physician at Stony Brook University Hospital. They will be able to work under the supervision of residents, fellows and attending physicians to address the growing number and complexity of patients being admitted to our hospital, precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The graduates would then proceed to begin their residencies July 1.

 

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An overview of the field hospital constructed at Central Park. Photo by Lisa Cooper

A Long Island couple recently did their part in the fight against the coronavirus.

Shawn and Lisa Cooper volunteered to help at the field hospital site in Central Park. Photo by David Beidel

Central Islip resident Lisa Cooper, along with her husband, Shawn, joined dozens who helped to construct a field hospital for COVID-19 patients in Central Park at the end of March. Cooper said she and her husband received an email from a friend telling them how the organizers, Samaritan’s Purse, a nondenominational Christian organization that provides aid to people around the world, was looking for volunteers to pitch in and help.

The couple, who are the founders of the Long Island ministry Bridge Connection, talked over some of their concerns about traveling into the city during the pandemic, but Cooper said she started thinking about her son who is deployed overseas in Saudi Arabia, and due to her working with the National Guard Family Program, with many members now activated in New York. 

“If they can stand up and be willing to serve, how do I not stand up and do my part?” she said.

The couple traveled to the city March 30 for the second day of the build. They opted not to take public transportation and drove their car. Cooper said they felt comfortable knowing they were in control of who was inside their vehicle and where they could park. It took them just over an hour to get from their home to Mount Sinai Hospital in Uptown Manhattan, and they were able to find street parking near the site directly across from the health care facility. They couldn’t help but notice how empty the streets were. 

“It was not New York City on a normal Monday commute,” she said.

During the short walk to the site, they did see a few pedestrians, who seemed like health care workers, on the streets and many were wearing face masks. She said they also noticed there wasn’t anyone in the park walking or jogging like on an average day.

She said the day they arrived many of the larger tents were already erected, and only two or three more had to be assembled, though she wasn’t surprised.

“It’s a well-oiled machine how Samaritan’s Purse does things,” Cooper said, adding she volunteered with them in 2012 during Hurricane Sandy and has found the nonprofit to be dedicated and passionate with their outreach.

The Coopers were put to work right away, and the wife said she first helped to assemble cots, while her husband took part in laying down flooring outside of the tents. They also helped to lay down plywood planks across Central Park, she said, to protect the grass.

She was also able to help to unload some boxes with equipment and set up monitors along with other projects. Cooper said she was amazed that the volunteers were able to get the field hospital ready in two days, and while she had to get over some concerns about the virus, it made her feel better that patients would soon benefit from it.

“We only played a very small part,” she said. “When you think of it as a whole body, the whole body is needed to get the task done, but yet we were just such a very small part of it. I was honored that I would be asked to do that.”

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Stony Brook University Hospital. File photo

The Army Corps. of Engineers has awarded a $50 million contract to New York-based Turner Construction Company to begin building a hospital extension to handle the expected surge in hospital demand in the next few weeks amid the coronavirus pandemic.

With assistance from Suffolk County contractors and sub contractors, Turner will begin building the facility immediately and is expected to complete construction by April 18.

Stony Brook University Hospital and other area medical care facilities will use the hospital extension for patients who have come to the hospital for health care issues that don’t involve COVID-19, freeing up bed space in the main hospital and in other centers to treat patients with the virus.

The construction of the 1,000-bed facility is part of a Governor Andrew Cuomo’s (D) effort to double the number of hospital beds throughout the state within the next few weeks.

Construction on the hospital extension will start “right away,” said U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY1). The Army Corps. of Engineers has been “getting a running start on this project,” Zeldin said.

Zeldin was pleased that Anthony Ciorra, a senior program manager for the Army Corps. of Engineers, would be working closely on the project.

Ciorra is someone Zeldin has “interacted with very frequently, ” he said, adding the man is “intimately familiar with the First Congressional District. He has been a great resource throughout the years” and is able to cut through the red tape and get the job done.

Ciorra will be working under Col. Thomas Asbery, who is the commander for the New York District.

“Both of them have played an instrumental role in getting this to the point where it’s at right now,” Zeldin said.

The congressman said he expected local companies to contribute to the new construction.

“It would very much be my hope and expectation that Turner would be utilizing local businesses for supplies and labor to complete this project,” he said.

Separately, Stony Brook University said Batelle has added its Critical Care Decontamination System, which will allow the university to reuse N95 masks, among other personal protective equipment. The Batelle system will start decontaminating up to 80,000 masks per day by the end of this week. Before decontaminating the masks, people will inspect them to make sure masks with rips, tears, makeup, or other fluids don’t go through the process.

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'Hope and Freckles'
Retired police officer encourages empathy for refugees in powerful first book

Reviewed by Melissa Arnold

Author Bill Kiley

Every year, tens of thousands of people from around the world flee their homes. They have any number of motivations, among them political turmoil, threat of violence, discrimination and climate change, to name a few. 

Retired police officer Bill Kiley has deep compassion for asylum seekers of all kinds, and recently felt a strong desire to help them in some way. Kiley, 71, of East Northport, hopes that educating children about the plight of refugees can bring about a more supportive, empathetic culture in the next generation. 

His new book, “Hope and Freckles: Fleeing to a New Forest” tells the story of a white-tailed deer named Hope and her spotted fawn, Freckles, as they attempt to escape the growing number of hunters in their forest and go in search of a place where they will be safe. The sharply written story and whimsical, beautifully-illustrated characters will stir the hearts of children and adults alike.

What was your childhood like? 

I was raised in Brooklyn, lived in Queens after I got married, and came to this area when I started working for the Suffolk County Police Department years ago.

Were you creative from an early age?

I wasn’t creative at all. I’m one of nine children, and we lived in an apartment with one bathroom, so you can imagine what that was like! We played a lot of sports with our friends, and I started working during the summers when I was 11 to help contribute to the family.

What did you end up doing for a career?

After high school, I spent a couple of years working at the FBI as a clerk while I went to college at what is now John Jay College at night. My initial plan was to become an agent. Simultaneously, when I was 17 I joined the Army National Guard. I went away for six months of training right after my 18th birthday, and continued to go for additional training at other points which meant some breaks from school. I ultimately began working for the Suffolk County Police Department in 1972.

You must have met a lot of people from diverse backgrounds, then.

Of course. That was part of my motivation for writing this book. I wanted to shine a light on the struggles of refugees and asylum seekers all over the world. After 30 years in law enforcement and serving as an Army reservist, I recognize that this crisis threatens free democracy if it’s not dealt with. If we don’t step up, then our children and grandchildren will be left to deal with the global implications of people being pushed out of their countries and living in tent cities. Something needs to change.

When did you first start writing? 

In retirement, I’ve had the opportunity to do a lot of babysitting for my granddaughters. We’re a few blocks away from a local library, and so when the kids were with me we’d sometimes go down to the library and head to the children’s section. I began reading to them, and then as they grew I’d read along with them. At that point I began to see the incredible power that children’s books have on young minds. All the while, I’d been looking for a way to help with the refugee crisis, and I began to think that maybe I could help young children understand what’s happening and have some positive influence on the future. I never had any ambitions to become an author.

How did you learn about publishing and sharpen your writing skills?

I read a lot with my grandkids. But in the spring of 2019, I found out about an annual convention in New York City called Book Expo at the Javits Center. I spent three days there. For me, it was a three-day immersive educational experience. I had the opportunity to meet lots of people from every aspect of the writing and publishing world, including some very generous folks who were authors of children’s books. They spent a lot of time sharing their experiences and advice with me, and then I went home and continued to read and learn as much as I could. 

‘Hope and Freckles’

How did your family react when you told them you wanted to write a book?

Well, my wife, Kathy, and I were in school together since the first grade. We go back that far. And no one in my life has been as supportive of their spouse in life as my wife has been for me. In everything I’ve ever tried, she’s been there, and this was just another one of those things.

My granddaughters have been involved in this project from the get-go. They gave great feedback and I’ve had the chance to share the book with their classmates, too.

Is there a reason why you chose to make the characters animals instead of people?

I thought that since this is such a sensitive subject to explain to children, it would be less upsetting to use animals. The national animal of Honduras is the white-tailed deer, and as many refugees come from that area, I thought it was an appropriate choice.

How did you go about getting published?

I met a number of people from traditional publishing companies, independent publishers and hybrids. One of them was a man who recommended his publisher, Mascot Books in Herndon, Virginia. I submitted my manuscript and was happy to learn that they were going to accept it.

What about the illustrations?

I contacted freelancers all over the world, and Mary Manning’s work is so unique and beautiful. I’m so happy with what she’s done for the book. Once the manuscript was finalized, Mary broke the manuscript into logical scene breaks, then made pencil sketches for me to approve. She took it from there. To see the final copy was like holding my children and grandchildren for the first time. There was a feeling of, “Oh my gosh, we just gave birth to a book!”

This book also includes vocabulary words and questions for discussion. Why did you choose to add those?

As I was researching and reading different children’s books, I found a couple that had some variation of continuing discussion. My hope is that this book isn’t just read by 7 to 10 year olds, but that their families will read along with them and share in the experience and conversations that can happen afterward. A parent or other adult might feel ill-equipped to start a discussion on their own, so I thought having some starter questions might be helpful.

What do you want children to take away from reading this book?

The response from the classes I’ve read to so far has been wonderful. Kids have shared that they never thought about what it would be like to leave your home because of danger; to not have a school to go to or books to read; that they are grateful for what they have. That has been like gold to me. 

It’s easy for people in our country to automatically look at the U.S,-Mexican border as the only place of crisis. But this is a global issue. The U.N. estimates that around 26 million people around the world have had to flee their homes, often to places where they are unwanted. Half of those refugees are children. I hope kids who read this book come to understand that there are people their age that are in that situation, and empathize with the plight of refugees all over the world.

What’s next for you?  

My hope is to do a series of four books, all with these same characters, following their journey as it continues on. I’ll be reading from the book at Barnes and Noble stores around Long Island and New York City in the future. I am also available to speak about the book at schools, religious congregations and events.

Author Bill Kiley visited with his granddaughter Keira and fourth grade students from Mrs. Dennis’ class at St. James Elementary School in the Smithtown Central School District on Feb. 4. Kiley spoke to the students about the writing, editing and illustration processes of producing a book. He then read ‘Hope and Freckles’ to the class followed by a Q&A session.

“Hope and Freckles: Fleeing to a New Forest” is available online at www.mascotbooks.com, www.Amazon.com or www.BN.com. To learn more about Bill Kiley, this book and future projects, visit www.hopeandfreckles.com.

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From left, Michael Bernstein, Kelli O'Hara, Sutton Foster and Alan Inkles. Photo by Millie Elangbam/ Staller Center
Kelli O'Hara and Sutton Foster
Kelli O'Hara and Sutton Foster
Kelli O'Hara and Sutton Foster
Kelli O'Hara and Sutton Foster
Sutton Foster
The entire team takes a bow.

On March 7 Kelli O’Hara and Sutton Foster joined forces for the first time in a double headline show at Stony Brook University’s Staller Center for the Arts for their 2020 Gala and, though no one knew it at the time, this would be the last show of the Staller Center season. Performing songs from their lengthy repertoires, both Tony-winning performers gave it their all to a sold-out crowd despite mounting precautions and fears surrounding COVID-19. 

“I know this is a time of a little bit of nerves and wonder and mystery and anxiety … we want to give you a night away from that,” O’Hara said during her performance. The show went on, but out of an abundance of caution, the Gala’s reception was canceled. Little did O’Hara know, her comment about it being the last time audiences would be together, quickly became true. (see more photos at www.tbrnewsmedia.com)

Days later, on March 10, at the urging of Interim Stony Brook President, Michael Bernstein, the Staller Center announced that all March events were canceled. Bernstein’s bold and forward-thinking guided Staller Center Director, Alan Inkles, in his decision to cancel the Starry Nights concert, which was scheduled that same evening. 

One week after that, Inkles also took the lead and stated that all events at the Staller Center through May 15 would be canceled. In the following days, other theaters and arts organizations, including the Metropolitan Opera, followed suit. In a time of considerable unease, theatre venues across the world have closed their doors to limit the spread of COVID-19.

“We were the first East Coast Arts Center that canceled shows for March last week and second in the country,” Inkles said. Indeed, the Staller Center decided to close before larger venues such as Broadway, The Metropolitan Opera House, and London’s West End. 

Performances by the Russian National Ballet, America’s Got Talent finalist Diavolo, and the 30th-anniversary show of Bela Fleck & the Flecktones, among many others, are no longer coming to the Staller Center this season. “We are working with all of our artists and their managers in attempting to reschedule their shows in upcoming seasons and working together to find creative ways to minimize the financial hardships that appear imminent for these performers,” said Inkles. 

Other canceled events include: three remaining MET Opera Live in HD screenings, the Spring Film Series, A Capella Live, Starry Nights, Jack Licitra: U are the Music!, the Emerson String Quartet, Carol Wincenc, and the Doo Wop Project. The Paul W. Zuccaire Gallery is also closed to all in-person visitors through the end of May.

The Box Office is closed to in-person visitors, but patrons are asked to call or email the box office at 631-632-ARTS[2787] or [email protected] with questions or concerns. 

While Staller is offering credit or refunds for all ticketholders, generous sponsors, donors, and partners are offering their help, and many patrons have kindly donated their tickets back. 

“We are certainly seeing some great humanity in the art world as everyone scrambles to help each other,” Inkles said. 

Stay tuned for announcements on the Staller Center’s 2021-22 Season at www.stallercenter.com and visit www.stonybrookfilmfestival.com for information on this July’s 25th Annual Stony Brook Film Festival.

All photos by Millie Elangbam/Staller Center

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Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common disorder that affects the large intestine. Stock photo
Lifestyle plays an important role in reducing symptoms

By David Dunaief, M.D.

Dr. David Dunaief

According to estimates, 10 to 15 percent of the population suffers from irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) symptoms, although only five to seven percent have been diagnosed (1). The general perception is that IBS symptoms are somewhat vague. They include cramping, abdominal pain, bloating, constipation and diarrhea. 

Physicians use the Rome III criteria, an international effort to create scientific data to help diagnose and treat functional gastrointestinal disorders, plus a careful history and physical exam for diagnosis. 

What epitomizes IBS is the colonoscopy study, where IBS patients who underwent colonoscopy had diagnostic findings of nil. This tended to frustrate patients more, not reduce their worrying, as the study authors had hoped (2).

Rather, it plays into that idea that patients don’t have diagnostic signs, like in inflammatory bowel disease, yet their morbidity (sickness) has a profound effect on their quality of life. Socially, it is difficult and embarrassing to admit having IBS. Plus, with a potential psychosomatic component, it leaves patients wondering if it’s “all in their heads.”

So, what can be done to improve IBS? There are a number of possibilities to consider.

Mental state’s effect

The “brain-gut” connection is real. It refers to the direct connection between mental state, such as nervousness or anxiety, to gastrointestinal issues, and vice versa.

Mindfulness-based stress reduction was used in a small, but randomized, eight-week clinical trial with IBS (3). Those in the mindfulness group (treatment group) showed statistically significant results in decreased severity of symptoms compared to the control group, both immediately after training and three months post-therapy.

Those in the treatment group were instructed to do meditation, gentle yoga and “body scanning” — focusing on one area of the body for muscle tension detection. The control group attended an IBS support group once a week.

A preliminary study has suggested there may be a link between IBS and migraine and tension-type headaches. The study of 320 participants, 107 with migraine, 107 with IBS, 53 with episodic tension-type headaches (ETTH), and 53 healthy individuals, identified significant occurrence crossover among those with migraine, IBS and ETTH. Researchers also found that these three groups had at least one gene that was different from that of healthy participants. Their hope is that this information will lead to more robust studies that could result in new treatment options (4).

The role of gluten

In a small randomized clinical trial, patients who were given gluten were more likely to complain of uncontrolled symptoms than those who were given a placebo (68 percent vs. 40 percent, respectively).

These results were highly statistically significant (5). The authors concluded that nonceliac gluten intolerance may exist. Gluten sensitivity may be an important factor in the pathogenesis of a portion of IBS patients (6).

I suggest to my patients that they might want to start avoiding gluten and then add it back into their diets to see the results.

Fructose intolerance

Some IBS patients may suffer from fructose intolerance. In a prospective (forward-looking) study, IBS patients were tested for this with a breath test. The results showed a dose-dependent response. When patients were given a 10 percent fructose solution, only 39 percent tested positive for fructose intolerance, but when they were given a 33 percent solution, 88 percent of patients tested positive.

The symptoms of fructose intolerance included flatus, abdominal pain, bloating, belching and alternating bowel habits. The authors concluded that avoidance of fructose may reduce symptoms in IBS patients (7).

According to another study, about one-third of IBS patients are fructose intolerant. When on a fructose-restricted diet, symptoms appeared to improve (8). Foods with high levels of fructose include certain fruits, like apples and pears, but not bananas.

What is the role of lactose?

Another small study found that about one-quarter of patients with IBS also have lactose intolerance. Two things are at play here. One, it is very difficult to differentiate the symptoms of lactose intolerance from IBS. The other is that most IBS trials are small and there is a need for larger trials.

Of the IBS patients who were also lactose intolerant, there was a marked improvement in symptomatology at both six weeks and five years when placed on a lactose-restrictive diet (9).

Though small, the trial results were statistical significant, which is impressive. Both the durability and the compliance were excellent, and visits to outpatient clinics were reduced by 75 percent. This demonstrates that it is most probably worthwhile to test patients for lactose intolerance who have IBS.

Do probiotics help?

Treatment with probiotics from a study that reviewed 42 trials shows that there may be a benefit to probiotics, although the endpoints were different in each trial. The good news is that most of the trials reached one of their endpoints (10).

Probiotics do show promise, including the two most common strains, Lactobacilli and Bifidobacteri, which were covered in the review.

All of the above gives IBS patients a sense of hope that there are options for treatments that involve modest lifestyle changes. I believe there needs to be a strong patient-doctor connection in order to choose the appropriate options that result in the greatest symptom reduction.

References:

(1) American College of Gastroenteroloy [GI.org]. (2) Gastrointest Endosc. 2005 Dec;62(6):892-899. (3) Am J Gastroenterol. 2011 Sep;106(9):1678-1688. (4) American Academy of Neurology 2016, Abstract 3367. (5) Am J Gastroenterol. 2011 Mar;106(3):508-514. (6) Am J Gastroenterol. 2011 Mar;106(3):516-518. (7) Am J Gastroenterol. 2003 June;98(6):1348-1353. (8) J Clin Gastroenterol. 2008 Mar;42(3):233-238. (9) Eur J Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2001 Aug;13(8):941-944. (10) Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2012 Feb;35(4):403-413.

Dr. Dunaief is a speaker, author and local lifestyle medicine physician focusing on the integration of medicine, nutrition, fitness and stress management. For further information, visit www.medicalcompassmd.com.      

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SBU team member Steve Forrest scales the rock face as chinstrap penguins look on. Photo by Christian Åslund

By Daniel Dunaief

The canary in the Arctic coal mines, chinstrap penguins need more ice. These multitudinous flightless birds also depend on the survival and abundance of the krill that feed on the plankton that live under the ice.

With global warming causing the volume of ice in the Antarctic to decline precipitously, the krill that form the majority of the diet of the chinstrap penguin have either declined or shifted their distribution further south, which has put pressure on the chinstrap penguins.

Indeed, at the end of December, a team of three graduate students (PhD students in Ecology and Evolution Alex Borowicz and Michael Wethington and MS student in Marine Science Noah Strycker) from the lab of Heather Lynch, who recently was promoted to the inaugural IACS Endowed Chair of Ecology & Evolution at Stony Brook University, joined Greenpeace on a five week mission to the Antarctic to catalog, for the first time in about 50 years, the reduction in the number of this specific penguin species.

The team boarded Greenpeace’s ship, the Esperanza, for a five week mission. Photo by Christian Åslund

The group, which included  private contractor Steve Forrest and two graduate students from Northeastern University, “saw a shocking 55 percent decline in the chinstrap on Elephant Island,” Lynch said. That drop is “commensurate with declines elsewhere on the peninsula.”

Elephant Island and Low Island were the targets for this expedition. The scientific team surveyed about 99 percent of Elephant Island, which was last visited by the Joint Services Expedition in 1970-1971.

The decline on Elephant Island is surprising given that the conditions in the area are close to the ideal conditions for chinstraps.

In some colonies in the Antarctic, the declines were as much as 80 percent to 90 percent, with several small chinstrap colonies disappearing entirely.

“We had hoped that Elephant Island would be spared,” Lynch said. “In fact, that’s not at all the case.”

While many indications suggest that global warming is affecting krill, the amount of fishing in the area could also have some impact. It’s difficult to determine how much fishing contributes to this reduction, Lynch said, because the scientists don’t have enough information to understand the magnitude of that contribution.

The chinstrap is a picky eater. The only place the bird breeds is the Antarctic peninsula, Elephant Island and places associated with the peninsula. The concern is that it has few alternatives if krill declines or shifts further south.

“Chinstraps have been under-studied in the last few decades, in part because so much attention has been focused on the other species and in part because they nest in such remote and challenging places,” Lynch explained in an email. “I hope our findings raise awareness of the chinstraps as being in serious trouble, and that will encourage everyone to help keep an eye on them.”

While these declines over 50 years is enormous, they don’t immediately put the flightless waterfowl that tends to mate with the same partner each year on the list of endangered species because millions of the sea birds that feel warm and soft to the touch are still waddling around the Antarctic.

Researchers believe that the biggest declines may have occurred in the 1980s and early 1990s, in part because areas with more regular monitoring showed reductions during those times.

Still, where there are more recent counts to use as a standard of comparison, the declines “show no signs of abating,” Lynch explained.

The evidence of warming in the Antarctic has been abundant this year. On Valentine’s Day, the Antarctic had its hottest day on record, reaching 69.35 degrees Fahrenheit. The high in Stony Brook that day was a much cooler 56 degrees.

“What’s more concerning is the long term trends in air temperature, which have been inching up steadily on the Antarctic Peninsula since at the least the 1940’s,” Lynch wrote in an email.

At the same time, other penguin species may be preparing to expand their range. King penguins started moving into the area several years ago, which represents a major range expansion. “It’s almost inevitable that they will eventually be able to raise chicks in this region,” Lynch suggested.

The northern part of the Antarctic is becoming much more like the sub Antarctic, which encourages other species to extend their range.

Among many other environmental and conservation organizations, Greenpeace is calling on the United Nation to protect 30 percent of the world’s oceans by 2030. The Antarctic was the last stop on a pole to pole cruise to raise awareness, Lynch said.

One of the many advantages of traveling with Greenpeace was that the ship was prepared to remove trash.

“We pulled up containers labeled poison,” Lynch said. Debris of all kinds had washed up on the hard-to-reach islands.

“People are not polluting the ocean in Antarctica, but pollution finds its way down there on a regular basis,” she added. “If people knew more about [the garbage and pollution that goes in the ocean], they’d be horrified. It is spoiling otherwise pristine places.”

Lynch appreciated that Greenpeace provided the opportunity to conduct scientific research without steering the results in any way or affecting her interpretation of the data.

“We were able to do our science unimpeded,” she said.

Counting penguins on the rocky islands required a combination of counting birds and nests in the more accessible areas and deploying drones in the areas that were harder to reach. One of Lynch’s partners Hanumant Singh, a Professor Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at Northeastern University, flew the drones over distant chinstrap colonies. The researchers launched the drones from land and from the small zodiac boats.

The next step in this research is to figure out where the penguins are going when they are not in the colony. “Using satellite tags to track penguins at sea is something I’d like to get into over the next few years, as it will answer some big questions for us about where penguins, including chinstraps, are trying to find food,” Lynch said.

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The Riverhead testing facility is located at 1149 Old Country Road at the ProHealth site. Photo from Google maps

Suffolk County is adding two additional testing sites for Covid-19 in the coming days, with AFC Urgent Care in West Islip expected to provide rapid testing with results in less than 15 minutes and ProHealth in Riverhead also offering mobile testing for the coronavirus.

John T. Mather Memorial Hospital in Port Jefferson is establishing an emergency fund to help staff. File photo from Mather Hospital

Suffolk County executive Steve Bellone, who announced the new testing sites, suggested that residents need to make appointments prior to visiting the facilities.

“No one should walk into an urgent care center and expect to get tested,” said Bellone on his daily conference call with reporters.

The phone number for the AFC site is 631-983-4084 and the number for ProHealth is 516-874-0411.

Bellone also reported that the crime rate in the county had gone down. In the two week period ending on March 29, burglaries declined by 30 percent, grand larceny fell by 18 percent, and felony assault came down 100 percent.

“We did expect to see a reduction in crime,” said Geraldine Hart, the Suffolk County Police Commissioner. “People are at home and businesses are shut down, taking away the opportunities” to commit crimes, as there are far fewer people on the street.

Separately, the Suffolk County Child Care Consortium has added a 13th site that will provide child care for health care workers, first responders and transit workers, Bellone said. The new site will be in Central Islip at the Cordello Avenue Elementary School and will be run by Youth Enrichment Services. The program will be open from Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m.

For businesses seeking support, Suffolk County has established a new Covid-19 public assistance web page, which residents can access through the web site suffolkcountyny.gov. At the site, residents can use the FEMA public assistance link, where they can fill out a form with any questions.

Amid the ongoing economic strain in the county, Bellone said he spoke with several financial institutions about a number of topics, including the challenge for many people of paying their mortgages once the pause is lifted and business resumes. Bellone said the institutions recognized that people who were struggling to pay their mortgages won’t suddenly be able to provide payments from several months.

Meanwhile, the number of positive coronavirus tests continues to rise, with 6,713 confirmed patients in the county, which is up about 1,000 in the last day. The number of people hospitalized with the virus has risen to 709, with 229 people in the Intensive Care Unit as a result of their infection.

The number of beds continues to rise, with the count adding about 500 beds, bringing the total to 2,803 beds, with 598 available. That includes 397 ICU beds, of which 67 are currently available.

Bellone reported an additional nine deaths from the virus, bringing the total to 53. One of the residents was around 90, with three others in their 80s, two in their 70s, one in their 40s and two in their 30’s. Most of the victims have had underlying medical conditions.

“A lot of people think this is a virus affecting the elderly, and it certainly is,” Bellone said “But is it not just the elderly. People with compromised immune systems, underlying medical conditions, and past illnesses” are all vulnerable to the virus.

The Suffolk County Police Department continues to see an increase in the number of people with the virus. As of today, 35 sworn officers and five civilians had tested positive. None of the county’s finest has required hospitalization. The police force continues to see an increase in the number of compliance incidents, with officers responding to 182 calls. Of those, 15 calls were not compliant. The officers decided that no enforcement actions were necessary as all locations voluntarily complied. The police have also installed intercom systems at the public entrance doors to all seven precincts to allow screening for visitors for potential COVID-19 infection.

While Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) has sought volunteer help from elsewhere in the country to assist with the anticipated need for more health care workers, the Police Department believes the staffing levels are sufficient and has taken measures to protect officers.

Separately, Mather Hospital has created an emergency fund to support hospital staff and patients during the pandemic. The hospital has received donations of food and medical supplies and is asking for monetary donations to the Covid-19 Emergency Fund. People can make donations through the web site: www.matherhospital.org/emergencyfund or they can mail them to JTM Foundation, Mather Hospital, 75 North Country Rd., Port Jefferson, NY 11777.

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Crocus
Hellebore
Vinca
Yellow primrose
Crocus
White primrose

‘Life throws challenges and every challenge comes with rainbows and lights to conquer it.’

― Amit Ray

WELCOME SPRING!

Photographer Mimi Hodges of Sound Beach ventured out in her backyard on March 15 to capture images of these beautiful flowers, “reasons for joy,” and which she now shares with you as we welcome spring to our neck of the woods.

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File photo

Stony Brook University’s Office of the Vice President for Research and the Institute for Engineering-Driven Medicine launched a $500,000 coronavirus seed grant program. The money will fund an expected 10 to 14 awards for up to $40,000 per researcher for scientists and clinicians at Stony Brook who are responding to the needs arising from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Current, full-time, tenured or tenure track faculty at Stony Brook are eligible for these research grants, which will cover areas such as urgent care health care challenges and psycho-social, behavioral and economic impacts.

The deadline for submissions is April 10 and the awards, for up to a year, will start between April 27 and May 8.

Stony Brook described the application process as straightforward with a quick turnaround.

“This Covid-19 Seed Grant Program will unite our diverse research communities to develop engineering-driven medical solutions that could change the trajectory of Covid-19 response,” Joel Saltz, the Cherith Foundation Chair of Biomedical Informatics and Director of the Institute for Engineering-Driven Medicine, said in a statement.

The Office of Proposal Development will provide support to research submitting applications.

The Institute for Engineering-Driven Medicine is a combined effort of the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Stony Brook Medical School. The Institute was created last summer to address a range of medical challenges that might have engineering solutions.
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