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Times of Middle Country

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On June 1, the League of Women Voters of the Hamptons and North Fork held a debate between the four candidates vying for the Democratic nomination and who will then face off against incumbent Lee Zeldin (R-NY1) for the New York’s 1st Congressional District seat. The nominees in the upcoming primary election June 23 are Suffolk County Legislator Bridget Fleming (D-Sag Harbor), last year’s front-runner Perry Gershon, former educator Nancy Goroff and Gregory Fisher, who has run for multiple local offices over the years.

Though the debate went on for more than an hour and a half, it did not touch on points such as the current protests against racism and police violence currently rocking the nation.

Here’s what they had to say on a number of key issues and challenges facing the district.

1.On what issues do you think there is a reasonable possibility of enacting legislation to benefit the country?

Bridget Fleming

Fleming: I’m known as someone who has reached across the aisle and looks at problems and challenges with an eye toward hearing from all stakeholders. Then taking on the tough decisions to move forward. I have a proven record on that.

There are a number of issues that face our congressional district. One, for instance, is immigration. Many people feel that the current immigration system needs comprehensive reform. Individuals are so enamored with special interests.

Another issue is the epidemic of gun violence. There is a consensus in the country on commonsense background checks, on a ban on assault weapons, and a ban on high-capacity magazines. There are many issues upon which the country agrees but because of the influence of special interests and someone like Lee Zeldin, who has a perfect record from the NRA, caters to those special interests. We can get beyond that.

Gershon: The goal when I’m your congressman is to enact policy that we can do on a bipartisan basis whenever possible. There is a crying need for certain policies as we go forward and try to climb out of the coronavirus-based recession. That’s building jobs. How do you do that? With infrastructure and investing in our economy. There was a glaring need for infrastructure even before coronavirus, and it’s doubled or tripled now.

We have the opportunity for green jobs, green energy in a new economy. We need Democrats and Republicans cooperating with each other. That obviously starts with getting [President] Donald Trump (R) out of the White House. With a uniter in the White House we can pass policies and take it beyond infrastructure, we can go to health care, the other real priority for America. We can build on the Affordable Care Act. We can make sure Americans understand that health care is a right not a privilege.

Goroff: If I’m elected my top priority is to make sure we are taking meaningful action on climate change, which is the largest threat we face to our way of life, even today. I can do that by acting as a resource for members of Congress from both sides of the aisle — making sure they have access to the best information available, making sure all their questions are answered and holding their feet to the fire to ensure we are taking action. We will make sure we are setting ambitious targets as we strive for a carbon zero economy.

We invest in deploying existing technologies, in reusable energy, in clean vehicles, and in clean buildings.

Fisher: One of the important issues is that voters don’t feel like they are being listened to. They are looking at a lack of access to their representatives. We are crippled economically, people are out of a job and can’t pay their bills. They want to know how you are going to get things done and get us out of trouble.

I subscribed to a philosophy called a decentralized autonomous organization, where citizens can input every detail, on what they want to influence. I have an economic plan that will eliminate the scarcity caused by this long-term economic shutdown.

2. As a congressperson what specific proposals would you support to improve our immigration system?

Nancy Goroff

Goroff: We need to take action toward making comprehensive immigration reform. We must prepare a pathway to citizenship for our Dreamers and we must make sure we are allowing families to be reunited. We can’t be separating children from their families at the border and we should be considering more effective/humane ways to help people coming in who want to claim asylum.

The fact that people have to wait for months or years, and now we are imprisoning them — is unnecessary and unconscionable. We should be looking at why we have such a stream of refugees coming to our border. There are programs that were started in Central America by the Obama administration to help refugees on the ground, so they don’t have to leave. We need to make sure we are reinstating these programs that can keep refugees from thinking the only opportunity is to walk 1,000 miles across Mexico. Our policy must be humane and must live up to our American values.

Fisher: Most citizens want several points addressed. They want registration, they don’t want a secret population, they want taxation, they want to make sure they are paying their share. The other one is assimilation and education so that those people are ready for our society.

There are people out there that are starving for the opportunity to be a part of this American dream.

Fleming: The immigration system in the United States is deeply broken and needs comprehensive immigration reform. It needs to be the top priority of anyone’s agenda who is looking to take a job on Capitol Hill.

We need to fix our broken visa system. Luckily in Suffolk County, we have allies in the farm community who have been deeply hurt by the system and can’t find enough workers to harvest their crops. That is an alliance we can lean on in Suffolk County to move that process forward and make reforms.

We need to end separations of families at the border. It is inhumane and unacceptable. We need a clean DACA [Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals] bill, we need to restore TPS [Temporary Protected Status]. We need to ensure that the border is secure, but secure because we have undertaken a system of immigration that is fair and humane.

Perry Gershon

Gershon: It’s no secret that immigration was a challenge in this country even before the election of Donald Trump. We have been trying to solve our immigration issue for many years and under many different presidents.

Trump has made a bad situation and made it worse. We’ve got to take care of the Dreamers, people who are in this country through no fault of their own, who did not commit a crime, and have no nation they call home except America. We need to give them a path to citizenship, we need to take care of TPS recipients. We need to have defensible borders, we need to have a system where people do not just flock into America. We need to be able to secure our borders and be able to maintain them while we take care of the people here.

3.How can we bring affordable housing, job creation to LI, especially for millennials?:

Goroff: Now with COVID-19, millennials are facing another challenge in getting their careers started. As a lifelong educator, I believe in making education available to people and to make it affordable. That means making sure we have sufficient Pell grants for our students. So people and families can afford excellent degrees and they can get good jobs.

We also need to make sure all jobs are paying a true livable wage and that means investing in new jobs here, like clean energy and increasing the minimum wage. We also need to address the health care issue because it is a burden on businesses.

Fisher:We have created a generation of homeless millennials. Why? Because they can’t leave their parents’ homes, they can’t afford to buy a house or pay the rent for an apartment. They are living late in life at their parent’s houses. My plan would include a revamp of the tax system, so we have money to invest [in the economy]. Education should be a right, we need to build America.  We need to fundamentally make a new commitment to young people and realize that we have betrayed them.

Gregory Fischer

Fleming: This is one of the critical challenges here in Suffolk County and in NY1. It is something at the county legislature we have attacked with real intention and real success. For instance, look at the Village of Patchogue and the surrounding areas.

The developments of these vibrant downtowns are encouraging young people to stay on Long Island and make a life here.

I’ve been fighting for affordable housing since my time on the [Southampton] town board.

Gershon: People want to stay here and not to be forced to move away because of better jobs. The way we fix that is get better paying jobs here on Long Island so that young people can move here. Also, we need to improve their educational prospects by not having them come out of school massively burdened by student debt. We need to do things like reducing the cost of student debt. The federal government should not be making a profit off it by lending to our students so they can afford to go to college. The government should be facilitating college education.

We can give people the opportunity to pay off some of their student debt in exchange for national service. Let them be teachers, let them do things that will improve our own society.

On affordable housing, we need to bring money into Long Island. We need to fund housing for the middle class, we need to find a way that doesn’t force people away. The government can do that, it can be a federal policy. We need fair development as well.

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Dr. Kenneth Kaushansky, the dean of the Stony Brook Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University, is eager to restart the educational mission of training medical school students.

Dr. Kenneth Kaushansky, the dean of the medical school at SBU, said there’s a real possibility of a second wave of COVID-19. File photo

While Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) has said that medical schools can restart on June 22, Kaushansky has asked for a waiver to allow students to continue to build on their clinical knowledge sooner.

“I was worried about the delay in doing the experiential learning,” Kaushansky said. A delay that lasts too long could push graduation back for the rising fourth year students, which is “not good for any health care professional. We need health care professionals, including respiratory therapists, physical therapists, nurses and social workers” among others.

On top of the need to ensure on-time graduation for the Class of 2021, he said another wave of the COVID-19 crisis will increase the demand for graduates.

The medical school dean said Stony Brook University Hospital is watching carefully the protests over the death of Minneapolis resident George Floyd at the hands of a police officer charged with his murder. The hospital and staff are ready in the event of a spike in demand for health care after large gatherings on Long Island and in New York City.

“We are ready to mobilize on a moment’s notice because we did it the first” time, albeit with numerous questions about the course and potential treatment for the new virus, Kaushansky said.

On Saturday, he sent out a letter to the health sciences community addressing what he termed “health care racism.”

“We witnessed the sum of all these effects in the disproportionate lethal burden of COVID-19 on communities of color, a combination of overcrowding at home, of jobs that do not allow the protection afforded by work from home, or from the disproportionate burden of health care conditions that arise, in part, from health care disparities,” he wrote in the letter. He urged the Stony Brook community to “do everything in our power to work toward erasing the social determinants of disease that contribute to our unequal society.”

He urged learners and critical staff to develop and practice cultural sensitivities, and he also suggested that the school should make “certain our graduates reflect the diverse society in which we live.”

In its admission decisions, SBU includes the notion of overcoming hardship as a part of the process through which the school evaluates prospective students.

In the coming years, Kaushansky plans to emphasize further the importance of encouraging those who have faced significant hurdles in applying to the medical school.

In terms of treating patients who have COVID-19, he is encouraged by the use of remdesivir and convalescent plasma. The school has these treatments available for people who are sick and is studying the effectiveness of these approaches.

More than 1,500 patients have been admitted through the university hospital, Southampton and Eastern Long Island hospitals and have benefited from the clinical study of symptoms including clots.

Surgeons had noticed that D-dimer levels, which are proteins that indicate the presence of clots, were shooting up. They decided when this protein reached a certain level, they would use a full dose of anticoagulants.

Stony Brook has put the results of these aggressive anticoagulant treatments into an article that has been submitted for publication.

In the meantime, the university has taken an across-the-board approach to raising anticoagulants.

“That will improve the mortality rate should we get a second wave,” Kaushansky predicted.

In the event of a second wave, Stony Brook Hospital and, indeed, New York will be better prepared, with more tests, greater awareness and contact tracing.

Kaushansky believes that the people who have already fought off the virus are presumably immune from getting it a second time. What’s unclear, he explained, is whether the antibody test is predictive of resistance. Additionally, it’s unclear how long that resistance will last.

He expects that monoclonal antibodies can work, but that they should be reserved for the sickest patients. They are expensive and are hard to produce the level necessary for the U.S. population of more than 300 million people.

What worries the Stony Brook dean is that people have had enough of staying at home, social distancing and wearing masks. In the worst of the crisis, when the numbers of people sick and dying were climbing, Kaushansky could get to work in much less time than normal, as traffic on the roads had lightened up considerably.

Days before the Phase 2 reopening, which began on Wednesday of this week, the level of traffic has returned to a more normal density.

Meanwhile, Phase 2 for Stony Brook University involves reopening research laboratories and allowing people who were previously deemed nonessential workers to return to the labs in an “orderly and safe fashion,” Kaushansky said.

The university has installed plexiglass shields, requires social distancing, built partitions between people who don’t have their own offices, and requires everyone to wear masks and have their temperatures taken when they come to work.

The hospital opened up for elective surgery two weeks ago. Everyone who is scheduled for surgery has to get a viral swab the day before.

The approach the university has taken in requiring personal protective equipment and social distancing has paid off for hospital staff who have been exposed to all those sick patients. The rate of antibody tests of employees is much lower than in the general community.

“It’s safer to be a frontline health worker at Stony Brook than to work at some grocery stories,” Kaushansky said.

On the clinical side, he believes Stony Brook Hospital needs more highly skilled nurses. At the peak, the university hospital had 437 patients. If it had reached 500, “we would have been in trouble,” he added.

Upstate New York had sent 20 experienced nurses to help out.

“Nursing is important and high-level nursing, operating-room nursing, was particularly stressed,” Kaushansky said. “We need to hire more nurses.”

He added that the school trains excellent nurses and plans to hire some of its own graduates.

In terms of medical school classes, the dean said the university hasn’t decided yet whether to bring small groups back together. The big lecture halls will still involve remote teaching.

“Are the smaller group educational exercises going to be back safely?” he asked. “I’m working to make that happen.”

Kaushansky takes solace in the way PPE reduced the infection rate for the hospital as a whole, and believes such an approach could work for medical school classes as well.

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Even as Phase Two of the economic restart began yesterday, County Executive Steve Bellone (D) said he has reached out to Governor Andrew Cuomo’s (D) office to request the restart of other activities.

Bellone has asked that youth sports be permitted. He said he also would like to see non-touch museums that have large spaces with capacity limits reopen.

“Some of that was lumped into Phase Four with mass gathering-type activities,” said Bellone on his daily conference call with reporters. The county is looking at what it can open up sooner.

Bellone, who spent parts of the first day of Phase Two getting a haircut, dining out and enjoying ice cream with a tour of several downtowns in Suffolk, said the reopening was “off to a good start” and that it helped people feel more of a sense of normalcy.

Bellone reminded business owners that the county started a personal protective equipment giveaway.

The county is providing some cloth face coverings and hand sanitizer to small businesses, nonprofit companies and faith based organizations.

“Reopening businesses in this environment is a challenge,” Bellone said. “To the extent we can do something that helps them a little bit, we want to do this.”

Bellone said 403 businesses had filled out applications for those supplies since Monday and that 226 businesses had picked up those kits. Interested business owners can find a supply request form at suffolkcountyny.gov/bru.

Viral Numbers

Over the last 24 hours, an additional 48 people have tested positive for COVID-19, which brings the total to 40,512. The county executive hopes that number continues to remain below 100 for any given day.

The number of new infection numbers continues to remain below 100 despite protests in response to the murder of Minneapolis resident George Floyd.

Bellone said it might still be a little early to draw any conclusions about the potential spread of the virus in response to the protests. He will be looking more closely at the new infection rates through the weekend and into the beginning of next week.

“My sense is that being outdoors is a safe environment,” the county executive said.

For the 24 hour period ending on June 9, the number of people in hospitals with COVID-19 declined by 14 to 151. The number of people in Intensive Care Units declined by one to 45.

Hospital bed occupancy from people with the coronavirus stood at 66 percent for hospital beds overall and at 60 percent for ICU beds.

An additional 15 people were discharged from the hospital and are continuing their recovery from the virus at home.

Meanwhile, the number of people who died from complications related to COVID-19 increased by four in the last day. The total for the same period ending yesterday was two, which brings the total to 1,945.

The county distributed an additional 26 pieces of personal protective equipment over the last day.

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Several hundred protesters stood along Nesconset Highway in Stony Brook June 7 to protest police violence and racism after the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Sunday marks nearly a week of constant protests all across Long Island. Photo by Mike Reilly

George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis two weeks ago spurred nationwide protests and renewed conversations on police brutality and systemic racism in this country. TBR News Media reached out to prominent leaders in the black community to get their perspective on what needs to change and what immediate actions can be taken as we move forward. Here’s what they had to say.

Al Jordan. Photo from Stony Brook University

Al Jordan, clinical associate professor at Stony Brook Medicine and former dean for Student and Minority Affairs: 

We will need to work on life after the protests end, that’s when the hard work really starts. We will really need to see change in policy and in laws, not just on the national level but the local level as well. 

Voter registration — getting more people to vote — is the most immediate change we can work on right now. It will take educating people, including family, friends and community members. It means engaging with people, it’s tough work but people can listen and be persuaded. Some may not, but it is another effective way of change. 

You look at the segregation on Long Island, whether it’s in housing or in school districts, the racial, social and economic disparities — it feeds into the larger issue. 

When it comes to training police officers, it has to begin with the individual person. What’s on their mind, how do they feel? Act on that framework. You also have to change the people who run things and who are at the top. 

I’m optimistic, I believe in people. I see it in the young people, something that’s different from what I and others were doing in the 1960s. They have been able to bridge the gap, that cultural divide, and been able to find that common ground. 

It has given me a lot of hope, seeing these young people like my own grandchildren engaging in these positive activities and important discussions. 

Suffolk County Sheriff Errol Toulon. Photo by Kevin Redding

Errol Toulon Jr. (D), Suffolk County sheriff: 

All law enforcement need to reevaluate how they train their officers and how they operate. I don’t know how an officer with 18 prior complaints was allowed to continue to interact with the public. 

Unfortunately, due to this recent incident and others like it, mistrust toward law enforcement is at an all-time high. We need to work together to regain that trust. 

It’s having a conversation with them. It starts by talking to them and hearing their concerns, answering their questions and hopefully giving them a good understanding of what we do. 

99 percent of police officers who come to work to serve and protect are good men and women. But those who do wrong need to be held accountable. Supervisors need to be held accountable as well. 

Whether it is additional training or suspension it needs to be addressed immediately. 

One thing departments and agencies can do is increase cultural awareness and diversity training. A lot of times these teachings end once they leave the door of the academy. We have to make sure that officers remain engaged with the black and minority communities. We must have respect for each other. 

Another thing is making sure we are talking to our staff — monitoring their emotional and mental well being. 

[On Monday, Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office announced the creation of a community advisory board to give residents an opportunity to meet regularly with the sheriff and staff and discuss concerns. The board will consist of five people from East End townships and five from the western towns in Suffolk. Members will serve for a one-year term.

“Current events have demonstrated that people from all racial and ethnic backgrounds are frustrated with law enforcement, and they have some legitimate reasons to feel this way,” Toulon said in a release.]

Elaine Gross speaks about race at ERASE Racism forum. Photo by Kyle Barr

Elaine Gross, president of Syosset-based nonprofit ERASE Racism: 

There’s currently conversation changing police policy, there’s a legislative package up in Albany that will be voted on soon. I’m pleased to hear that. 

But we also need to have a conversation on how we got to where we are. There is structural racism. 

On Long Island, due to segregation in school districts,, we know public school education looks very different in terms of the resources for black and minority students compared to white students. 

This is a disparity that gets lost — people are not aware of it or just don’t want to talk about it. An education policy needs to be made a priority, and that means increasing the percentage of educators of color in the classroom — that includes Black, Latinx and Asian teachers. We have seen the benefits of students in a diverse learning environment.  

In addition to the package up in Albany, we need an independent prosecutor, not someone who works closely with the police department. We have seen so many cases where so little happens and no charges brought down [on officers accused of misconduct]. It sort of goes away. We need to continue to strengthen race crime measures and increase body cams in law enforcement. 

I’ve had forums with high school students in the past on structural racism, and I believe students are beginning to have a better understanding of what’s happening in the world and are more open to it than adults. I look to the students and young people to carry the movement forward. 

Councilwoman Valerie Cartright. Photo by Phil Corso

Valerie Cartright, Brookhaven Town councilwoman (D-Port Jefferson Station): 

It is clear that there is a movement happening, people are stepping up and saying, “Enough is enough.” 

For 8 minutes and 46 seconds, the George Floyd incident showed white people in this country what it is like to be black in America. Now our voices are being heard. 

There is legislation being passed in New York State that I support that is moving us in the right direction, but it is only scratching the surface. It is a good first step. We need to acknowledge these injustices and take immediate action. 

We should have already had access to disciplinary records of officers — this information should have been made public. Also, we need to change the police culture. We need to make sure police officers feel comfortable in speaking out against bad officers. We have to have strong whistleblower protection. 

I have represented [as an attorney] police officers who have spoken up about their comrades and they often face retaliation for violating or going against the brotherhood. 

The majority of police officers are good people but if we don’t get rid of hate, racism and discrimination in these departments then we are never going to change the system. 

I’m asking everybody to join in this movement, so we can be heard as one voice.

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County Executive Steve Bellone (D) said he is looking forward to getting a haircut tomorrow, as the county moves into Phase Two of its reopening.

“I have not seen so many people excited about the prospect of getting a haircut or going to the salon gas I have seen over the last week or so,” Bellone said on his daily call with reporters.

In addition to hair salons, car sales, outdoor dining and retail services can restart as the county’s COVID-19 numbers continue to move in the right direction, despite the possibility of an increase in infections amid the approximately 100 protests over the past week and a half in response to the killing of Minneapolis resident George Floyd by a police officer.

Bellone was grateful for the peaceful way protestors have expressed their constitutionally guaranteed First Amendment right to express themselves. He also praised the Suffolk County Police Department, including Commissioner Geraldine Hart and Chief Stuart Cameron as well as the men and women of the police force for what he called “improving relations” with the community which have enabled them to keep the peace despite hostile events in many urban areas.

The protests have started a national dialogue which has included a discussion about defunding the police, effectively remodeling the police department so that it focuses on crime while creating other bureaus to handle mentally ill people or face drug addicts. Bellone said he does not support such an initiative, which “doesn’t make any sense.”

He appreciated the work police officers do to fight crime and to investigate various levels of assault and murder.

As the protests continue, Bellone remained confident that the testing and contact tracing in place would enable the county, which has been at the epicenter of the pandemic, would allow the county to respond to any future outbreaks.

Viral Numbers

Over the last day, an additional 49 people have tested positive for COVID-19, which raises the total to 40,426. The number of people who have tested positive for the antibody stands at 15,856.

As of last week, the rate of transmission for the virus on Long Island was between 0.6 and 0.9. A figure above 1 raises the possibility of the spread of the virus.

Hospitalizations declined by three for the day ending on June 7 to 155 people. The number of people in Intensive Care Unit beds also declined by three to 47.

Residents battling COVID-19 constitute 63 percent of hospital beds overall in the county and 53 percent in the ICU.

Over the last day, an additional 10 people have been discharged from county hospitals.

An additional four people died from complications related to COVID-19 over the last day. The death toll stands at 1,939.

Starting today, Bellone announced a Suffolk Cares program, which will provide food to those in need. Residents can call 311 from Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Eligible residents will receive a box of nonperishable food within 24 to 30 hours. Residents who call on Friday will receive food on Monday.

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Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) announced a new executive order June 8 that New York State would be extending the deadline for mailed in absentee ballots for school budget and board of education votes to Tuesday, June 16.

Many districts are still collecting ballots via drop off to district offices on June 9 by the end of the business day at 5 p.m. Absentee ballots can still be mailed to districts and will be accepted until June 16 at 5 p.m.

This also comes with the announcement the state would allow school districts to conduct graduations ceremonies, though they must be outside, adhere to social distance guidelines and must contain 150 people or less. Some school districts said those figures may be too restrictive.

“The recent approval for small gatherings for graduation, while welcome news, requires seniors to be separated into multiple different ceremonies,” said Shoreham-Wading River Superintendent Gerard Poole in a public letter. He asked residents to encourage local and state leaders to revisit the matter.

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Nursing homes have become a hotbed of discussion over the large percentage of their residents who have died from COVID-19 while in New York facilities. Stock photo

As hospitalizations continue to decline, Suffolk County is poised to enter Phase Two of a four phase economic reopening on Wednesday, which would include outdoor dining.

The number of people hospitalized due to COVID-19 fell by 21 to 158 in the day ending on June 6. The number of residents in Intensive Care Unit beds stayed the same, at 50.

Hospital bed occupancy, meanwhile, was at 63 percent overall and at 56 percent in the ICU.

The number of people who have left the hospital in the last day was 26.

An additional four people died over the last day, raising that grim total to 1,935. The number of people who tested positive for the virus increased by 48, bringing the total to 40,377. the number of people who have tested positive for the antibody stood at 15,757.

Amid generally peaceful protesting, Bellone said there was a report of an incident in Smithtown that is currently under investigation.

The allegation in the Smithtown incident, which occurred last night, was “serious” and involved additional resources, including a hate crimes unit, a fourth precinct detective squad, and a plainclothes unit, as the Suffolk County Police Department is giving it “the highest priority,” said Chief Stuart Cameron.

Separately, County Executive Steve Bellone (D) said he appreciated Governor Andrew Cuomo’s (D) recent decision to allow outdoor high school graduations. The policy, however, only allows 150 people, which will be “difficult on Long Island,” Bellone said on his daily conference call with reporters. He has requested additional flexibility from the state to address the larger communities throughout Suffolk County.

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NAACP chapter President Tracey Edwards has criticized the county for not communicating well enough about the new police reform task force. File photo by Kyle Barr
Hundreds of people from a multitude of races and ethnicities participated at the June 7 rally in Hauppauge. Photo by Kyle Barr
Hundreds of people from a multitude of races and ethnicities participated at the June 7 rally in Hauppauge. Photo by Kyle Barr
Hundreds of people from a multitude of races and ethnicities participated at the June 7 rally in Hauppauge. Photo by Kyle Barr
Hundreds of people from a multitude of races and ethnicities participated at the June 7 rally in Hauppauge. Photo by Kyle Barr
Hundreds of people from a multitude of races and ethnicities participated at the June 7 rally in Hauppauge. Photo by Kyle Barr
Hundreds of people from a multitude of races and ethnicities participated at the June 7 rally in Hauppauge. Photo by Kyle Barr
Hundreds of people from a multitude of races and ethnicities participated at the June 7 rally in Hauppauge. Photo by Kyle Barr
Hundreds of people from a multitude of races and ethnicities participated at the June 7 rally in Hauppauge. Photo by Kyle Barr
County Executive Steve Bellone speaks at the June 7 rally in Hauppauge. Photo by Kyle Barr
Cars streamed into the parking lot of the H. Lee Dennison Building June 7 to protest racial injustice. Photo by Kyle Barr

Hundreds of cars huddled in the right lane going east along Veterans Memorial Highway Sunday, June 7. Streaming off Northern State Parkway, the caravan of cars came from Nassau County’s seat of power to Suffolk, all to promote black lives and black efficacy after the death of Minneapolis man George Floyd.

In a day which saw other protests along the North Shore including in Stony Brook and Smithtown, the rally that took place at the Suffolk County executive seat in Hauppauge drew crowds from as far east as the north and south forks and as west as the far edges of Nassau County as part of the NAACP Caravan for Change. Protesters called for an equality of access to housing, loans for businesses and a general end to prejudice. In addition to banning police use of chokeholds and stricter repercussions for officers who commit unwarranted violence, they also prompted bills in Albany to end what’s known as 50-a, a provision in the state’s civil rights code that heavily restricts people from accessing police service records.

Tracey Edwards, the Long Island Regional Director of the NAACP, said one can be for police, but also be against police misconduct. Between speakers at the podium, she added it was also time to recognize the numerous young activists who are helping to lead many protests of the past several days.

“One of the main things we need to do as a community is to identify the young leaders, and pass the baton to them,” Edwards said. “It’s critical that we let young people lead.”

Three young members of the Huntington community have led some of the first protest marches in Huntington and spoke at the June 7 rally about their efforts and examples of racism they experienced while marching. Owner of the Italian restaurant Tutto Pazzo, Luigi Petrone, called protesters animals and savages and said he wanted to throw watermelons at those marching. 

“We were angry naturally, but instead of going about it in an irrational way, we decided to reorganize and mobilize again, but this time take the protest directly to his restaurant,” Kenny Charles, one of the three young protest organizers said. He added they received massive support from the community for their protest in front of Pazzo, with people even dropping off watermelons to protesters in response to Petrone’s comments.

The owner of Pazzo has since shared apologies for his comments in a video posted online.

They said the point of their protests is to show the solidarity of the community, and express the worth of their money, which would not go to support business owners who would discriminate against them. Instead, it should go to supporting and promoting black-owned businesses.

Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone also spoke at the rally. He cited the county replacing Tom Spota as county district attorney who was “systematically targeting black males,” he said, also citing adding more diversity to the county’s Department of Human Resources, Personnel and Civil Service

A few members of the assembled crowd yelled back at him saying “what are you planning?”

“When we talk about systemic change in law enforcement, that is needed, but that is not enough.” Bellone said. “We need systemic structural change in housing, in education and representation in all forms of our government.

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In what Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone (D) called a “bit of a milestone,” the number of people who have been hospitalized with COVID-19 has fallen below 200.2

In the day ending June 6, 21 residents left the hospital, bringing the total to 179.

At its peak, the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in April was 1,658, which means that the numbers have fallen by 89 percent amid the worst strain of the pandemic.

“That is great news for us,” Bellone said on his daily conference call with reporters. “We’re looking to see that number continue to decline as we move through the month of June.”

The number of people in Intensive Care Unit beds with COVID-19 also declined by 3 to 50.

Hospital bed use, meanwhile, is below the targeted 70 percent for coronavirus patients. Overall, the residents with the virus represent 64 percent of the total beds, while they account for 58 percent of the ICU beds.

In the last day, the number of people discharged from the hospital was 30, which is above the approximate 10 percent of the total for the last month.

The number of people who have tested positive for the virus was 51, with the total now at 40,329. The number of people who have tested positive from the antibody stands at 15,441.

With beach weather arriving today, Smithpoint and Cupsogue beaches both closed early in the afternoon. The county closed both beaches and provided signs leading up to the beach, while alerting people on social media that the facilities reached their maximum of 50 percent capacity.

While the number of deaths per day slowed over the last few days, with one person dying in the day ending on Thursday, two on Friday and five yesterday, the number of families and friends mourning losses climbed by eight to 1931.

A person reading a name per second for each victim would need over 32 minutes to go through the names of people whose lives the virus extinguished during the last few months.

Bellone offered his thoughts and prayers to the families who have suffered a loss, while he reiterated his hope that the number would of deaths from the virus would fall to zero soon.

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First Presbyterian Church of Smithtown. Photo by Tom Caruso

Churches, mosques and synagogues can reopen as Suffolk County enters Phase Two of its reopening this Wednesday, albeit with only 25 percent capacity.

Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) announced that these houses of worship could admit community members and that religious leaders were responsible for ensuring compliance with the public health guidelines designed to limit the spread of COVID-19.

“It’s an important time for our faith-based communities to be opened back up,” County Executive Steve Bellone (D) said on his daily conference call with reporters. “Our faith-based communities are ready to this. They understand what needs to be done.”

Separately, as protests continue on Long Island and throughout the world after the killing of Minneapolis resident George Floyd at the hands of a former police officer, who has been charged with his murder, public officials are engaging in ongoing conversations with community leaders bout ways to create greater equity and opportunity for everyone.

“There are areas for us to make progress,” Bellone said. “There is more work to be done.”

Bellone suggested the police department can look to make itself more diverse so that it “reflects in terms of its diversity the communities it serves across the county. That’s a priority for us.”

Bellone said conversations about equal opportunities occurred before the killing of Floyd and are moving into a “new phase” amid the protests and demonstrations.

Viral Numbers

The number of people who have tested positive for COVID-19 rose by 39 to 40,239 over the last day.

The number of residents in the hospital due to the pandemic declined by 13 to 200, while the number of people in Intensive Care Unit beds declined by one to 53 through June 4th.

An additional 24 people left the hospital over the last day.

The number of people who died due to complications related to COVID-19 in the last day was five, bringing the total to 1,923.

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