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Suffolk County Health Department warns of West Nile Virus after Tropical Storm Ida

by Daniel Dunaief - September 9, 2021

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Tropical Storm Ida’s heavy rains may create a breeding ground for the mosquitoes that carry West Nile Virus, health officials warn.

“Following the recent heavy rainfall, we are concerned that standing water and summer temperatures will allow mosquitoes to proliferate,” Gregson Pigott, Suffolk County health commissioner, said in a statement. “While there is no cause for alarm, we ask residents to cooperate with us in our efforts to reduce exposure to West Nile virus and other mosquito-borne diseases.”

As of last week, 92 mosquito samples and four birds had tested positive for West Nile virus. From Aug. 25 to Aug. 26, 21 samples tested positive for the virus.

At least one mosquito from samples collected in Cold Spring Harbor, Huntington Station, Northport, Stony Brook, Port Jefferson Station and Rocky Point tested positive for the virus, according to the Suffolk County Health Department.

Most people infected with West Nile Virus, which was first detected in Suffolk County in 1999, have mild or no symptoms. Some, however, can develop high fever, headaches, neck stiffness, disorientation, coma, tremors, convulsions, muscle weakness, vision loss, numbness and paralysis, according to the health department.

Over the last 20 years, the number of mosquito samples testing positive for West Nile ranged from a low of eight in 2004 to a high of 295 in 2010, a year that also saw 25 human cases with three deaths.

Pigott urges residents to wear shoes and socks, long pants and long-sleeved shirts when mosquitoes are active. He also suggested using mosquito repellent, while reading and following directions carefully.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends repellents containing DEET, oil of lemon eucalyptus, picaridin and IR3535, which can be used on skin and clothing. For children, lower concentrations of DEET are preferable, according to the CDC.

Insect repellents with permethrin should only be used on clothing and not directly on the skin.

Effective screens on windows and doors can keep mosquitoes out of homes and living areas.

Emptying containers that hold water, such as vases, pet water bowls, flowerpot saucers, birdbaths, trash cans and rain barrels can reduce available water sources for mosquitoes to lay their eggs. Scrubbing containers like pet water bowls can remove insect eggs that might otherwise survive.

Adrian Popp, chair of Infection Control at Huntington Hospital, explained that most disease doctors are on the lookout for West Nile infections. He tests everybody with an unexplained fever or other symptoms.

In a typical year, Huntington Hospital sees a few cases of West Nile. So far, Popp said, the hospital hasn’t reported any such illnesses.

“It is hard to say if it will be more prevalent this year since we had only a few cases in New York State so far and it is already the end” of the summer season, Popp wrote in an email.

While Popp said anyone is vulnerable to West Nile Virus if he or she is bitten by a mosquito, most cases are asymptomatic. Fewer than one percent of those who contract West Nile Virus develop more severe symptoms.

For those people who have more severe symptoms, doctors don’t have many tools at their disposal.

“There is no etiologic therapy,” Popp explained in an email. “Therapy is supportive, symptomatic care.”

The county urged residents concerned about West Nile Virus to download a copy of an informational brochure called “Get the Buzz on Mosquito Protection” on www.suffolkcountyny.gov.

Twenty years after 9/11 Stony Brook doctor continues to help first responders

by Rita J. Egan - September 8, 2021

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283A0678 — Stony Brook WTC Wellness Program clinic. Photo from Stony Brook Medicine

Dr. Benjamin Luft remembers the feeling of being prepared to treat 9/11 survivors and then no one arrived at the hospital.

Dr. Benjamin Luft is the director and principal investigator at Stony Brook WTC Wellness Program. Photo from Stony Brook Medicine

Stony Brook University was among local medical facilities that were prepared for the arrival of 9/11 victims when Luft was the chairman of the Department of Medicine. He said, like others, he had seen the towers falling on television, and from the 16th floor of SBU’s Health Sciences Tower, he could see the smoke from the World Trade Center.

“The idea was that there was going to be real mass casualties, and that this would overwhelm the system in New York,” he said.

Medical teams from various departments met in the conference room of the Department of Medicine, but he said “it became obvious as time went on, that there was no one coming to Stony Brook.”

“It was eerily ominous, because we began to understand that either people had escaped the buildings, or … that there were relatively few survivors from the attack itself,” the doctor added.

He said anyone seeking treatment stayed in the city, and the hospitals in Manhattan weren’t overrun as originally anticipated.

Luft, who is now the director and principal investigator at Stony Brook WTC Wellness Program, said after the tragic day he visited Ground Zero to see what was happening at the site. It was there he witnessed what first responders were being exposed to while working.

“It was obvious that there was going to be a lot of responders that were going to become ill as a result of that, because there was a tremendous amount of dusts and toxins in the air,” Luft said. “There was a lot of fire, burning, and there was a lot of fumes that came off of burning plastic and electronics.”

He added there were traumatizing events that people at the site experienced such as seeing bloody human parts and, for earlier responders, people jumping out of the towers.

He said shortly after September 11, local labor leaders met with him and told him how many of those first responders lived on Long Island and were getting sick. He learned that while many were insured, their insurance wasn’t covering their health issues due to them volunteering and not doing what the insurance companies considered on-the-clock work while helping to clean up and recover victims at Ground Zero.

The struggle of the Long Island first responders led to the development of the Stony Brook WTC Wellness program. In 2002, patients at first were just screened and monitored and then in 2005 doctors began treating them. Luft said in the early days of the program SBU Department of Medicine employees would volunteer to treat the patients. Over time the program began to receive financial resources to expand its services.

The Suffolk location of the Stony Brook WTC Wellness Program is located on Commack Road in Commack. Photo from Stony Brook Medicine

Luft said the program follows the cases of approximately 13,000 Long Islanders in both Nassau and Suffolk counties, with one clinic in Commack and the other in Mineola. At first, patients were displaying acute reactions to their exposure. Cases included asthma, upper respiratory disease, sinusitis and gastrointestinal disease, he said, due to the amounts of dust the patients had taken in during their time at Ground Zero.

Over the years, the doctor said patients began developing illnesses such as cancer, but doctors have also seen psychiatric problems such as PTSD and depression.

The responders “had seen people die,” he said. “They were in danger all the time.”

Doctors are also seeing cases of dementia in patients. Luft said one theory is that when a person is exposed to certain toxins it can increase their chances of having dementia. He gave the example where areas with higher pollution have much higher rates of Alzheimer’s.

With studies showing that patients with PTSD have cells that age more quickly, the WTC Wellness Program began monitoring patients.

“We saw something that stunned us, and quite frankly at first we were very skeptical,” Luft said. “We went through a variety of different studies and tests to confirm our results.”

Twenty years after September 11, the doctor said it’s possible that first responders will present with more health issues in the future, but no one can be certain with what illnesses.

The Stony Brook WTC Wellness Program’s Suffolk County office is located at 500 Commack Road, Commack.

Show must go on as SPAC asks for community’s help with historic building

by Kimberly Brown - September 8, 2021

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SPAC will hold a benefit to raise funds to save the theater. Photo by Kimberly Brown

The Smithtown Performing Arts Center is in need of being saved.

Local elected officials and community leaders gathered at the theater Sept. 8 asking for local residents to help pitch in money to save the building. The owner of the building, Ken Washington, put it up for sale last month.

State Sen. Mario Mattera, left, joined other local elected officials and community members to talk about the importance of the Smithtown Performing Arts Center in the town. Photo by Kimberly Brown

Not only is the SPAC a place for entertainment, as well as education, but it also serves as a sentimental piece of history to the community. The theater itself was built in 1933 and aged well into its years making it 90 years old. It has become a well-known staple and has brought in families from all over the Island.

“This is like the hub of our downtown revitalization,” said state Sen. Mario Mattera (R-St. James). “This is history. This is history we need to make sure is secured and that will still be here for our families — our young, our middle-aged and our seniors.”

Mattera also pointed out that the educational acting programs for 17 and 18 year olds are extremely vital in this day and age. He said coming to the Smithtown Performing Arts Center is one of the few ways to get young people off their phones and learn about art and history.

“The only way the surrounding businesses will survive is if this theater remains a hub,” said Smithtown Supervisor Ed Wehrheim (R). “If it does not, and it’s sold for other purposes, you will see millions of dollars in expendable income leave Smithtown and go to other places such as Patchogue, Babylon or Northport.”

Currently, a GoFundMe is set up for community members to donate to. The goal is to reach $400,000, with $6,300 raised as of Sept. 8. The board members of the Smithtown Performing Arts Center are very confident they can reach their goal as long as donations are placed and fundraisers are successful.

The Smithtown Performing Arts Council made an offer of $1.3 Million to purchase the historic theater at the time the property was listed, but are currently awaiting a decision on the matter.

With the support of the Smithtown Performing Arts Council, a nonprofit organization, a benefit performance with some of Long Island’s most talented artists will be held on Sept. 18 at 6:30 p.m. All are welcome to come and donate to the cause.

To donate to save Smithtown Performing Arts Center, visit www.gofund.me/93a0c9fe.

A son honors his first responder dad’s legacy

by Rita J. Egan - September 8, 2021

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Tom-and-Matt-Brophy-web — Matthew Brophy as a newborn with his father Tom. Photo from Rita Brophy

He was only 3 years old when his father passed away.

Matthew Brophy in a recent photo. Photo from Rita Brophy

Matthew Brophy, of Smithtown, is now 19 years old and has no personal memories of his father Thomas Brophy. His dad was a New York City police officer for 16 years and was also a first responder at Ground Zero. His father died in 2005 at the age of 36 after a battle with metastatic colon cancer. Doctors believed Tom Brophy’s cancer stemmed from his work at Ground Zero during the days after September 11.

Matthew Brophy, now a sophomore at Adelphi University, has the memories that his mother Rita and loved ones have shared with him through the years. The stories have left him with a loving impression of his father.

“I would describe him as a valiant, strong and charismatic individual,” Matthew Brophy said.

Among those in his life who knew his dad are old friends, including Tom Brophy’s police partner Rich Seagriff and training buddy Matt Fagan.

“His old friends treat me like I am their own son,” he said.

The son said one of his favorite stories is hearing how his father lost sight of him for a brief moment at Best Buy when he was 2. The then-toddler had a SpongeBob DVD in his hand and started walking out of the store only to set off the alarm.

Like his parents, Brophy grew up in the Hauppauge school district. He graduated from Hauppauge High School in 2020. When it came time to learn about 9/11 in class, he said the information was nothing new to him.

“I really haven’t learned anything particularly new in the school system about 9/11 and Ground Zero due to me being a child that was involved with it,” he said. “If anything, I knew more than the teachers about it. For the most part, it is taught just to be taught in history in the first week because the first or second week of high school in America usually falls on 9/11, at least in Suffolk it does.”

Brophy added it’s not a subject teachers delve into that deeply and usually students are shown a video of the planes crashing into the towers.

“It gets to a point where it’s so routine I genuinely feel offended, especially when everyone in the class knows that they’re in a class with a kid whose dad died from 9/11,” he said. “Needless to say, I don’t think it’s something that needs to be taught as of now, but in the future, yes. If people are still suffering physically from an event, that means that it is still undeniably relevant enough to be known.”

Brophy was recently awarded a scholarship from the First Responders Children’s Foundation and is currently pursuing a degree in psychology. He also has been juggling three jobs.

His mother said she is proud of him and “the man he is becoming.”

Rita Brophy said her son’s biggest quality is loyalty, just like his dad.

“He is exposed to many friends with many cultural beliefs and he respects them,” she said. “Hopefully, his view in the world will continue to be open-minded and loving of everyone he meets.”

Tickets on sale now for Save the Smithtown Theatre fundraiser

by Heidi Sutton - September 7, 2021

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The Smithtown Center for the Performing Arts, 2 E. Main St., Smithtown invites the community to a Save the Smithtown Theatre benefit performance on Saturday, Sept. 18 at 7 p.m. Doors open at 6 p.m. and wine and beer will be served at 6:30 p.m. Join some of Long Island’s most talented performers for an evening of community connection & entertainment as the nonprofit organization strives towards its goal of purchasing the Smithtown Theatre. Tickets are $75 per person. For more information or to order, call 631-724-3700 or visit www.smithtownpac.org.

Celebrate St. James presents 9/11 anniversary art exhibit

by Press Release - September 7, 2021

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our-flag-was-still-there-jack-ader — 'Our Flag Was Still There' by Jack Ader

In commemoration of the 20th anniversary of 9/11, Celebrate St. James will present an art exhibit at the historic Calderone Theater, 176 Second St., (second floor), St. James with an opening reception on Sunday, Sept. 12 at 11 a.m. Raffle prizes & 50/50 raffle. Refreshments will be served. Funds raised will go to the St. James 9/11 Memorial Fund and Save the St. James Theater Fund. For more information, call 631-984-0201 or visit www.celebratestjames.org.

Centereach Cougars claw Bulls, 2-1

by Bill Landon - September 7, 2021

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The Cougars of Centereach fresh off their season opening victory two days earlier, chalked up another one in the win column when they edged visiting Smithtown East 2-1 at home Sept 4.

Senior mid-fielder Oscar Garces struck first scoring at the 27-minute mark off an assist from senior forward Robert Arenas. With 4 minutes and 42 seconds left, Smithtown East senior Alex Palas drove his shot home to make it a new game. Thirteen minutes into the second half, Arenas scored off an assist from Garces to put his team out front, 2-1. Centereach senior goal keep Ryan Jenkins was kept busy in the final minutes with a late game attack from the Bulls but finished the game with seven saves to secure the win.

Centereach is back in action Sept 9 hosting Half Hollow Hills East while the Bulls have a road game against Huntington. Both games start at 4 p.m.

Editorial: Businesses are still struggling

by TBR Staff - September 4, 2021

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It’s been a difficult 18 months, especially when we think back to the early days of the pandemic as we watched businesses across our communities adjust to state mandates after COVID-19 raged through our area. From limiting capacity to some businesses not being able to operate at all, many owners had difficulty adjusting.

Despite the lifting of state mandates a few months ago, many are still suffering.

As we look around more and more, places are closing or are in jeopardy of shutting down. In the last two weeks, we have heard the news of the Book Revue in Huntington set to close by Sept. 30. After 44 years of business, the village staple is in a financial hole.

The store had been shut down for three months during the pandemic. Once it was reopen, the business struggled to get back on its feet, and the owner fell behind on the rent.

To the east, Smithtown Performing Arts Center is having trouble holding on to its lease of the old theater. The nonprofit is also behind in its rent and has been unable to make a deal with the landlord, which led him to put the theater up for sale two weeks ago.

Both businesses received assistance during the pandemic. The Book Revue, like many others, was fortunate to receive loans through the federal Paycheck Protection Program to pay employees’ salaries and keep the lights on. For SPAC, the nonprofit received a Shuttered Venue Operators Grant but needs to have a full account of debts to be able to reconcile grant monies.

With the pandemic lingering, what many people are discovering is that the assistance just artificially propped them up for a short while. Now more than ever, local businesses and nonprofits need the help of community members to enter their storefronts and buy their products. When a consumer chooses between shopping or eating locally instead of online or going to a big chain, it makes a difference.

If one looks for a silver lining in all this, it may be that many business owners have come up with innovative ways to stay open, while others have embraced curbside pickup and created websites and social media accounts that will be an asset in the future.

And while it’s sad to see so many favorite businesses closing their doors, it also paves the way for new stores with fresh ideas to come in with items such as different types of ice cream or creative giftware or clothing.

Many of our main streets need revitalization and the arrival of new businesses or current ones reinventing themselves can be just what our communities need to reimagine themselves — and not only survive but thrive in the future.

We can all help small local businesses stay afloat, whether it’s an old staple or a new place. Because at the end of the day, if a store or restaurant has been empty and the cash register reflects that, we’ll see more and more empty storefronts in our future.

Spend your money wisely — shop and eat locally.

Suffolk County COVID-19 numbers heading in the wrong direction as school starts

by Daniel Dunaief - September 3, 2021

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Smithtown First Day3 (1) — As the new school year begins, students will have to wear masks once again. File photo from Smithtown Central School District

What a difference a month, or two, makes.

The percent of positive tests in Suffolk County on Aug. 29 stood at 5.1% with a 4.7% positive seven-day average, according to data from the Suffolk County Department of Health.

That is considerably higher than just a month earlier, with a 3.2% positive testing rate on July 29 and a 2.7% rate on a seven-day average. The increase in infections for the county looks even more dramatic when compared with June 29, when positive tests were 0.2% and the seven day average was 0.4%.

“With the highly transmissible delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 [the virus that causes Covid-19] circulating, we are urging everyone who is eligible to get the COVID-19 vaccine as soon as possible,” Gregson Pigott, commissioner of the Suffolk County Department of Health Services, wrote in an email. “We also advise residents to wear masks when indoors in public.”

With students returning to school during the increase in positive tests, including those who are under 12 and ineligible to receive the vaccination, Pigott explained that he was concerned about the positive tests in the county.

Nationally, the spread of the Delta variant is so prevalent that the Director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Rochelle Walensky at a White House briefing urged people who are unvaccinated not to travel during the Labor Day weekend.

While area hospitals aren’t seeing the same alarming surge towards capacity that they did last year, local health care facilities have had an uptick in patients who need medical attention.

“The increased community transmission is concerning as it is correlating with hospital rates also slowly rising,” Bettina Fries, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Stony Brook Medicine, wrote in an email.

Meanwhile, most of the patients hospitalized at Huntington Hospital are younger, from children who are transferred to people in their 20s to 50s, explained Adrian Popp, chair of Infection Control at Huntington Hospital/ Northwell Health, in an email.

As schools in the area prepare to return to in-person learning, Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University has been coordinating with officials to prepare for a safe return to in-person learning.

“Stony Brook faculty are working with a diverse group of school districts in planning for the upcoming school year,” Sharon Nachman, chief of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Stony Brook Children’s Hospital, explained in an email.

In recent weeks, Stony Brook Children’s Hospital has had few pediatric hospitalizations for COVID-19, with more pediatric positive cases in the outpatient setting.

Area hospitals including Stony Brook and Huntington Hospital continue to have strict guidelines in place for health care workers including social distancing, hand washing and the proper use of personal protective equipment.

Amid increasing discussion of the potential use of boosters, Stony Brook awaits “formal guidance and will continue to follow all DOH directives on vaccine administration,” Fries wrote.

Ida and Covid

Outside of Long Island, Hurricane Ida has the potential to increase the spread of the virus, as larger groups of people crowd into smaller spaces.

The hurricane “may become a super spreader event since vaccination rates in the South are low and people may crowd into shelters or at home indoors,” Popp explained. “I am concerned not only about the hospital capacity in Louisiana, but also of the impact the hurricane can have on hospital functioning.”

Popp cited a loss of power, lack of supplies, and the difficulty for ambulances trying to reach patients in flooded areas.

Ida leaves damage behind along the North Shore

by Rita J. Egan - September 3, 2021

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Many North Shore residents spent their Thursday cleaning up after remnants of Tropical Depression Ida pummeled the Island Wednesday night. In addition to the storm, the National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for the North Shore of Suffolk County.

According to PSEG Long Island, the hardest-hit areas on the Island include Northport, Ridge, Lloyd Harbor and Huntington.

Huntington

In the Town of Huntington, flooding outside of the Huntington Sewage Treatment Plant on Creek Road left several motorists stranded, according to a press release from the town. STP staff accessed the facility via payloader late in the evening on Sept.1. During the peak of high tide, STP staff were unable to access the plant from the main entrance on Creek Road or from the rear entrance near the Mill Dam gates.

“We actually had to take a payloader out to the Creek Road entrance to bring one of our employees into the plant last night,” said John Clark, the town’s director of Environmental Waste Management. “Several cars, including a police vehicle, were stuck on Creek Road and New York Avenue — at least one driver (a police officer) had to be removed via boat by the Huntington Fire Department.”

Steve Jappell, a wastewater treatment plant operator at the STP facility, operated the payloader and assisted fellow employee Joe Lombardo and the police officer, who was ultimately transported from the scene by the Huntington Fire Department in a rescue boat.

“Thank you to the Huntington Fire Department, as well as Centerport, Halesite and Northport fire departments, who also arrived to assist other stranded motorists on Creek Road, and to our quick-thinking staff at the plant,” said town Supervisor Chad Lupinacci (R).

According to the press release, the area received its largest rain event in nearly 20 years between 7 p.m. and 1:30 a.m. The town reported that 6.29 inches fell during the 6 ½ hours.

While the STP usually processes around 1.8 million gallons per day, between 6 a.m. Sept. 1 and 6 a.m. Sept. 2 it processed more than 3.8 million gallons. According to the town, the plane “will continue to experience above average flow rates over the next two days as groundwater intrusion and sump pump activity contribute to the increased volumes.”

Town officials also said there were 26 reports of flooding mostly in Huntington; 29 reports of downed trees and branches; 16 reports of large pieces, sections and layers of asphalt ripped away, five manhole covers washed aside and one possible sinkhole was reported in Northport as asphalt washed away on Oleander Drive.

As for town facilities both golf courses had some flooding and were closed Sept. 2, and Town Hall had about ½ inch of flooding in the basement.

Smithtown

According to Smithtown Public Information Officer Nicole Gargiulo, there was flooding in the Smithtown Town Hall basement; however, there was no other damage to equipment or facilities in the town.

During the peak of the storm, the town received calls about flooded roads, but the streets were cleared as of the morning of Sept. 2.

Callahan’s Beach sustained damage, according to Gargiulo. The beach had already been closed due to damage after a storm in the early morning hours of Aug. 27.

Stony Brook University

Students in the Mendelsohn Community of Stony Brook University, which is located on the North end of campus off of Stadium Drive, were the SBU students most affected by the storm. According to communications sent out by the university, while other areas of the campus experienced flooding conditions, Mendelsohn was the most affected and students needed to be relocated.

Also affected by the storm was the Student Brook Union, and the building is closed for damage assessment and cleanup. The university held a ribbon cutting ceremony for the newly renovated student union building last week. Employees who work in the building were asked to work remotely Sept. 2.

In an email from Rick Gatteau, vice president for Students Affairs, and Catherine-Mary Rivera, assistant vice president for Campus Residences, “the Mendelsohn buildings have no power due to 4-6 feet of water in the basement, resulting in a power failure to the building. At this time, it is unsafe to be in the building while our teams pump out the water, assess the damage, and determine the timeline for repairs.”

Mendelsohn residents were not required to attend class on Sept. 2.

Three Village

During the storm, the historic Thompson House in East Setauket took in 33 inches of water in its basement. Some of the water rose up to the first floor of the 1709 structure.

The building, which belongs to the Ward Melville Heritage Organization, will need to have the water pumped out, according to WMHO President Gloria Rocchio. After the water is pumped out, a cleanup company will have more work ahead of them to prevent any more damage.

According to the National Weather Service, 6.86 inches of rain fell in Setauket. The NWS reported that it was the highest rainfall total on Long Island.

Additional reporting by Daniel Dunaief.

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