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Covid 19

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Assemblywoman Jodi Giglio joined Brides of Long Island founder Heather Cunningham asking the state to lessen wedding restrictions. Photo by Kimberly Brown

By Kimberly Brown

The Brides of Long Island organization, state Assemblywoman Jodi Giglio (R-Riverhead) and other Republican lawmakers gathered at the H. Lee Dennison building in Hauppauge last Friday, April 16, to call for action by Gov. Andrew D. Cuomo (D) to lessen the overly restrictive COVID-19 regulations on weddings.

Some of the state’s pandemic regulations include up to 150 guests or 50% of a venue’s capacity whichever is smaller with mandatory COVID-19 testing, distanced dancing in designated areas, congregating only at guests’ assigned tables, and wearing face coverings unless while eating or drinking.

Brides of Long Island founder Heather Cunningham. Photo by Kimberly Brown

Heather Cunningham, founder of The Brides of Long Island — a website and Facebook group that consists of thousands of brides across the Island — expressed her concern for the overmanagement of regulations the state has put in place, causing brides to postpone their weddings to unknown future dates.

“We take for granted that the world will wait for us, but time can take away a father who is supposed to dance with his daughter and it can send a fiancé halfway across the world in early deployment,” Cunningham said, “It may be easy for elected officials like Governor Cuomo to say that weddings are nothing but parties, but weddings are so much more than a party, they are the days that connect us to our roots, beliefs, values and to each other.”

Questioning the science behind the regulations around weddings, Giglio said the state government has gone too far when it comes to preventing COVID-19 in large gatherings.

“Honestly, does the virus pack up and leave after midnight or 1 a.m.?” Giglio said, “Because that’s what the governor wants you to do at your wedding — pack up and leave.”

Since the shutdown began last year, wedding businesses have been one of the many industries that have taken a hard hit financially. 

The wedding industry on Long Island generates an estimated $6 million a year in sales tax, as well as being one of the state’s largest employers.

John Salkowsky, owner of Silverfox Studios located in Lindenhurst, said the wedding industry has been brought to its knees, and lessening restrictions will help bring the businesses back to life.

“People make their decisions at the ballot box, and hopefully the governor will hear that and realize that by doing the right thing and lifting these restrictions will do great justice to this industry,” he said. 

Ronkonkoma business owner of Absolute Entertainment, Kevin McClafferty, said planning a wedding is supposed to be one of the most joyous experiences for couples. 

However, he has found that his clients are overly stressed when trying to plan their wedding around the state’s restrictions.

“A successful day at work for us is seeing exciting, smiling, happy faces — no masks,” he said. 

Pointing out the flaws in the state’s regulations and restrictions on weddings, McClafferty mentioned a few of the over-managed rules he observed while on the job. 

One of his observations included the state’s enforcement of “dance boxes,” where guests are allowed to use the dance floor in restricted zones with only the immediate members of their party. 

He said this is one of the most over-managed of all the reopening strategies.

“It’s a good idea in theory, but a terrible idea in application and needs to be eliminated now,” McClafferty said.

Brides who joined Cunningham last Friday also expressed their disappointment in not being able to plan their weddings properly, with some brides being forced to cancel or relocate their weddings to other states in order to celebrate appropriately. 

“We just want fair treatment.” Brittany Burton, an upcoming bride, said, “The people who are making the rules don’t see behind the scenes or worry about financials. They see money on their end before us.” 

With over 6,500 signatures as of April 20 on Cunningham’s BOLI petition, titled Lessen the Overly Restrictive COVID-19 Regulations on Long Island Weddings, the brides of Long Island are waiting to see if their voices will be heard.

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Photo from Deposit Photos

Vaccine appointments will available Saturday, April 17, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Rose Caracappa Senior Center located at 739 NY-25A in Mount Sinai for people aged 50 and over.

The office of Town of Brookhaven Councilman Jonathan Kornreich (D-Stony Brook) can help interested residents register for an appointment by calling 631-451-6963.

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John T. Mather Memorial Hospital in Port Jefferson. File photo from Mather Hospital

After the New York State Department of Health updated its guidance regarding hospital visitation, John T. Mather Memorial Hospital in Port Jefferson has begun instituting limited visitation.

Beginning on Friday, April 2, visitation hours will now be from 3 p.m. until 6 p.m. every day, and patients may have up to two visitors, with just one allowed at their bedside at any given time. 

With the new guidelines, inpatient visitation is only allowed in non-COVID medical and surgical units, critical care unites and adolescent psych. 

According to the hospital, visitation for the adult psychiatric unit will be accommodated by instituting two visitation sessions to be determined by the behavioral health staff during the hours of 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. 

An adult will be allowed to accompany a patient during their visit to Mather in its outpatient/same day procedure areas and in our emergency room. The visitor will only be allowed to stay with the patient during the intake and discharge process. 

The hospital said in a statement that exceptions will only be made in extenuating circumstances as determined by hospital staff.

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Pixabay photo

By Leah S. Dunaief

Leah Dunaief

For the first time in many months, I went out to a restaurant for a meal. It was breakfast and I was joined in this remarkable activity by a good friend who, like me, has had both vaccine shots plus the requisite 14-day period for the second one to take effect. There was no one else in the restaurant, although by the time we left, a couple of tables, in the distance, were occupied. It felt … familiar yet a little odd … to be sitting there, waiting to be served. We all wore masks, the waiter and the two of us, at least until the food arrived and we were about to eat. It was nice eating hot food instead of the cooled down takeout meals in the aluminum or Styrofoam containers we occasionally had brought home. 

The food tasted delicious, perhaps partly because I was savoring those first bites. And the pleasure of sharing the experience with someone across the table whom I had only spoken to on the phone during these many pandemic weeks was a delight. I could see her face, and not just her eyes and eyebrows. How lovely it all was. How normal!

In fact, according to a front page article in The New York Times this past Monday, we seniors who have been twice vaccinated have become the “life of the party.” We older folks, who got the shots ahead of everyone else, are “emerging this spring with the daffodils, tilting [our] faces to the sunlight outdoors. [We are] filling restaurants, hugging grandchildren and booking flights.”

The article goes on to declare an upside-down world of generational reversal in which the older folks are drinking the martinis and crowding around the bars instead of the more typical scene populated by the younger set. Two-thirds of Americans over 65 have started getting vaccinated and 38 percent have completed the process compared to 12 percent of the general population. Many older people are still maintaining cautious lives as mutations of the virus may pose unknown threats, and the unvaccinated are still at risk if those who have had the shots turn out to be inadvertent carriers. Of course, this is the demographic segment that also has suffered the most losses, as the senior, more medically vulnerable were the main cohort stricken by the deadly coronavirus.

Still, despite the greater risks, recent studies have shown that the older generation throughout this pandemic was less concerned with the threat of COVID-19 and was associated with better emotional well-being and more daily positive events. Under the constant stress, their coping skills were relatively strong, a benefit of aging, and they reported less stress.

As of Monday, 60 million Americans had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, more than 31 million are fully vaccinated, and more than 2 million people are being vaccinated every day. But we know that the pandemic is not over by any means, and the worst possibility at this point would be for us to suffer another surge the way European countries presently are.

It’s still hard to know what is safe. Despite the science, there are several unanswered questions. including how long vaccinated protection will last and whether the vaccines can continue to defend against the new, more contagious and more virulent variants. We can gather in private homes with small groups of likewise vaccinated without masks or distancing and even with single families whose members have not yet been inoculated but are at low risk for developing severe illness should they catch the virus. This best applies to grandparents who may now visit unvaccinated children and grandchildren without masks and social distancing.

In public places, however, those who have had their shots should still wear their masks, practice social distancing, avoid poorly ventilated spaces and frequently wash their hands. Long-distance travel is still discouraged.

We are so near and yet still so far.

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Dennis Harrington alongside his wife, Maggie, after departing Mather Hospital to a clap-out with hospital staff, friends and family. Photo by Iryna Shkurhan

By Iryna Shkurhan 

Dennis Harrington, 65, of Miller Place, was battling COVID-19 as one of Mather Hospital’s long-term patients until he was discharged this week to his family and friends. 

Outside the Port Jefferson hospital on March 17, friends, family and hospital staff held a “clap-out” for him, cheering him on as he was released. 

During his 76-day stay, Harrington was intubated more than once, but ultimately survived his lengthy battle with the virus. Upon his discharge from the hospital, he was applauded as he was pushed through two lines of supporters holding thoughtful posters.

At the end of the line, an ambulance was waiting to take him to St. Charles Rehabilitation to continue his recovery. 

“I felt all the prayers and they gave me strength,” Harrington said.

Photo by Iryna Shkurhan

He has had a long and distinguished career in law enforcement. Prior to his hospitalization, he had been an investigator for the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office. His roles included investigating crimes in the county by gathering evidence and assisting prosecutors with finding and interviewing witnesses.

“He does tremendous work for the office to secure justice on behalf of all the residents in Suffolk County,” said District Attorney Tim Sini (D). “But this is some of his best work yet, coming out of this.” 

Sini, who has worked closely with Harrington over the years, came out to show his support for Harrington and his family, as well as for Mather Hospital itself. 

Maggie Harrington thanked the hospital doctors, nurses, administration, housekeepers, physical and occupational therapists, and also “the man upstairs” for her husband’s tumultuous recovery. “By any means this man should be dead,” she said.  

“There were some scary moments with Dennis, and we all came together as a community,” said Patricia Bonventre, a friend of the family, adding she was not surprised by the large turnout for Harrington’s release and saw many familiar faces in the crowd. 

“I didn’t think I would make it,” Harrington said. “Thank you for everything. It really kept me going.”

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The Hartlin Inn in Sound Beach. File photo by Kevin Redding

A community staple has officially shut its doors for good. 

The Hartlin Inn, located at 30 New York Ave in Sound Beach, announced this week that they will be closing after 25 years in business. 

Linda Sarich, one of its three owners, said the trio is preparing to retire. 

“We were going to try and reopen in April, but after COVID, it was very stressful,” she said. 

Sarich said the Hartlin Inn had to temporarily close, like other restaurants did, right before St. Patrick’s Day last year — their busiest holiday. 

When restaurants were allowed to open up with outdoor dining and half capacity in May, Sarich said they scrambled to adhere to the new guidelines, but it was a stressful situation. 

“We just weren’t doing enough business with 50% capacity,” she said. 

Sarich added that the Inn holds just 11 tables, so half of it would fit only six. 

The Hartlin Inn closed for the winter, because the owners didn’t want to operate additional costs with low revenue and let go of their staff. 

Recently, the owners talked it over, preparing to reopen in April and decided it was time to close up shop.

April 12 would have been the inn’s 25th anniversary. 

“It’s a sad thing, but at least were going out on our own terms,” Sarich said. “We’ve been talking about retiring and COVID forced our hand … the next people who come in will make it a great place. I have high hopes.”

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The Northport football team has been sidelines for 10 days due to COVID-19. Photo by Steven Zaitz

By Steven Zaitz

According to the Northport High School Athletic Department, following Northport’s football game on Saturday, March 13, two players on the team tested positive for COVID-19. As a result, the team will be quarantined for at least the next 10 days and next week’s game against Half Hollow Hills East will be postponed.

Northport-East Northport School District officials said in accordance with state and local guidelines, students or staff identified as close or direct contacts must be quarantined.

Details about the game, a 26-0 victory against Connetquot will be published shortly.

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Photo from Barbara Anne Kirshner

By Barbara Anne Kirshner

LIPSTICK — the outward expression of our inward feelings. If we are happy, we choose cheery colors, if we are down we might gravitate toward the more subdued. Lip color also strategically complements our outfits. For the power suit, we go for bold tones; for comfy weekends, we seek naturals. We celebrate the seasons with rich russet and brown shades for autumn, reds for merry winter holidays, pastels for blossoming springtime and bright playful oranges for carefree summer. 

Lipstick has been our crowning accessory for centuries starting with Sumerian men and women who created it from natural substances like fruits, henna, clay rust and insects. Mesopotamian women ground precious jewels to add color and shimmer to lips. Egyptians like Cleopatra created striking shades of purple and black from carmine dye derived from grounded cochineal insects. 

Through the centuries, lip color has been a barometer for our culture and personal expression. 

In the 19th century, only actors and actresses wore it for stage, though not in public. Sarah Bernhardt, the famous actress, was one of the first to wear lip color in public. 

By 1920, lip products gained a place in everyday lives of women. James Bruce Mason Jr. created the first swivel tube in 1923 which is still used today. When women gained the right to vote, lipstick was their symbol  of feminism.

Lip color gained popularity in the 1930’s heading into the 1940’s when, during World War II, red lips were considered a boost to the morale. Besame’s American Beauty was one of the most popular shades of red.

The 1950’s saw women copying their favorite Hollywood stars like Elizabeth Taylor, Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn who were glamorously adorned in bold reds. 60% of all teenage girls at the time wore lipstick. Even Queen Elizabeth II got into the craze by creating her own shade to match her coronation robe which was customized by Clarin’s and named after her Scottish country home, The Balmoral.

The 60’s and 70’s saw a variety of lip shades inspired from pop culture. Corals were prominent with Maybelline’s Orange Danger topping the market. Flavored lip products such as Bonnie Bell’s ‘Lip Smackers’ gained popularity especially with the teen market.

Shimmers and glosses were the ‘in’ thing for the 80’s. Bold reds were back as an expression of power dressing. Hot pinks became the rage for the dance crowds and Goth lips for the alternative sub-culture.

In the 90’s environmental consciousness demanded chemical free, more natural formulas for lip products. The big craze of the 90’s was outlining with dark lip pencils and filling in with lighter lipstick. Mac and Urban Decay were born.

Shine and lip glosses were back in the 2000’s. Now, there are endless varieties of lip colors and formulas to match any whim. We can go from that natural look with nudes to outrageous choices like green, yellow and blue.

Lip products evolved into a global multi-billion dollar industry which had been expected to reach 13.11 billion dollars in 2020. This healthy market was on its way to breaking records when COVID hit and we found ourselves shielded behind masks that covered those colorful lips. At first, we continued to paint, but quickly realized not only didn’t anyone see our efforts, but we stained our masks in the process. We were reduced to a simple swipe of clear gloss to moisturize, but no need for anything else.

The lip product market as well as the entire beauty industry drastically fell in 2020 as a result of the pandemic making last year historically one of the worst. McKinsey & Company, a global management consulting firm, predicts makeup sales will continue being soft for the foreseeable future since for a time at least, when consumers return to the workplace, masks will be a required part of the uniform which will further slow lipstick’s recovery.

Anxious for COVID to evaporate as suddenly as it moved in ravaging life as we knew it, we thirst for normalcy. We want to rip off those masks that sequester us from the world so we may once more display our signature look enhanced by every color of the rainbow and then some. We long to return to our creativity applying shines, glosses, sheers, shimmers, creams, frosts, satins, metallics, mattes and pencils. We long for that vibrant or dramatic look that only our old friend lipstick can provide.

BUT until that fateful day we are resigned to — NO LIPSTICK REQUIRED!!

References:

— Gerstell, Emily, Marchessou, Sophie, Schmidt, Jennifer, Spagnuolo, Emma. “How Covid-19 is changing the world of beauty.” McKinsey & Company. May 2020.

— Sengupta, Avipsha. “A Complete History of Lipstick.” Stylecraze.com. October 9, 2020.

— “100 Years of Lipstick: Looking Through Trends Over the Decades.” Beauty Connoisseur.com. October 3, 2019.

Miller Place resident Barbara Anne Kirshner is a freelance journalist, playwright and author of “Madison Weatherbee —The Different Dachshund.”

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Photo from Pixabay

Last week marked milestones that most Long Islanders would prefer to forget.

It was March 5, 2020, when the first confirmed case of the coronavirus was reported on the Island in Nassau County, and then a few days after, there was one in Suffolk. 

A year later, while we can somewhat see the light at the end of the tunnel, we’re not quite there yet.

Many people would say we lost a year of normalcy with a good majority of employees working from home, restaurants and other businesses operating at reduced capacity — some even shuttering their doors for good. The biggest loss to COVID-19 was more than 3,000 people in Suffolk County in the last year dying from the virus. This means 3,000 families have lost their loved ones.

We’ve come a long way since the novel coronavirus was first discovered in Wuhan, China. Scientists and researchers had to scramble to find ways to protect people from a virus that was unfamiliar to the human body, so much so that it not only could make them incredibly ill but also take their lives.

There were shutdowns, social distancing guidelines, the requirement of facial coverings and frequent handwashing to keep us healthy, while pharmaceutical companies were on the fast track creating vaccines that would teach our bodies how to clobber the silent and invisible enemy.

But was this year really lost to any extent? We have come out of adversity stronger and wiser.

Those of us who are reasonably healthy have learned so much. More than ever, we know not to take our health and loved ones for granted. We have discovered just how resilient we can be, finding alternatives to celebrating special events, having meetings with coworkers, buying groceries and more. Many business owners have come up with innovative ideas so they can keep their doors open.

We have also seen disparities during the pandemic, especially when it comes to public health, as Black and brown communities have had more cases than others. These disparities are unacceptable and remind us that we can and must do better by our neighbors.

So many of us know someone who has been affected by the coronavirus, whether they had mild or severe symptoms, were hospitalized or died. And as we find ourselves at the one-year mark, even with the vaccines being rolled out, we still must curtail our activities, social distance, wear masks and frequently wash our hands.

But as more and more people get vaccinated, the light at the end of the tunnel will continue to get brighter. Our residents will carry on — maybe with masks in hand and keeping their distance, but at the same time applying the lessons they have learned and honoring those who can no longer do so.

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Carole Ganzenmuller, right, with her brother Richard Spence at an event a few years ago. Photo from Ganzenmuller

In September, Richard Spence, 64, of Selden, died of a heart attack.

Stunned by the loss, the extended family confronted the difficulty of planning a funeral during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We felt we had to be strict. My mother is 91, so we were diligent in who was coming and who was not able to come.”

— Carole Ganzenmuller

Carole Ganzenmuller, Spence’s sister, knows firsthand the suffering and difficulty the pandemic has created for mourning families. Ganzenmuller works as a funeral director’s assistant at East Setauket-based Bryant Funeral Home, where she and the staffs at so many other funeral homes on Long Island and around the country grappled with restrictions on the kinds of personal support people could normally provide after the loss of a loved one.

“We couldn’t do the normal funeral,” Ganzenmuller said. “We felt we had to be strict. My mother is 91, so we were diligent in who was coming and who was not able to come.”

Indeed, she said many of the extended relatives from out of state couldn’t attend the funeral for Spence, who served in active duty for the Navy for four years and as a reserve for two years. He was buried at Calverton National Cemetery.

While the family did have visitation and used Zoom, Ganzenmuller said they didn’t “go through the normal process.”

She said her children, who are in California and were on lockdown, knew they couldn’t attend.

“We didn’t want that many people around my mom,” Ganzenmuller said.

Telling people not to come was a “very hard thing to do” as it cuts the grieving process and the goodbyes become more complicated, she added.

The grandchildren couldn’t embrace their grandmother, which would have provided the customary comfort
and support.

Ganzenmuller’s family has had several members play active roles in serving the country through the armed forces. Her late brother William, who died at the age of 43, served in the Air Force, while her oldest brother Gary is a Marine veteran who served in Vietnam. Her late father Robert was in the Merchant Marine.

“We hang an American flag with great pride,” she said.

Sad as it was for Ganzenmuller and her family to lose Spence this fall, she recognized that they had more opportunities to grieve her brother than people who lost loved ones in the spring of 2020, during the earlier part of the pandemic.

In some cases, Ganzenmuller recalled how she went to a cemetery on her own, bringing a casket without a family along.

“I was going to Calverton where the families could not attend the funerals,” she said. She said the “Hail Mary” prayer on behalf of the families when she brought the deceased to the cemetery.

The increasing number of deceased people Ganzenmuller bought to the cemetery or the crematorium made her feel as if she were “in a war zone.”

“I felt a little blessed that my family was allowed to have what we had.”

— Carole Ganzenmuller

Ganzenmuller’s family had an honor guard for her brother, and the flag was presented to her mother.

“It’s very special,” she said. She has thought of all the people who couldn’t receive that honor. In fact, she said some religious officials didn’t feel comfortable entering the funeral home, so those services occurred outside.

“What was a normal ritual was no longer a normal ritual for people,” Ganzenmuller said.

The pandemic changed the way people could grieve and could say goodbye.

“I felt a little blessed that my family was allowed to have what we had,” she said. “I’m sure the healing process was tougher” for people during the early months of the pandemic, regardless of what caused a close friend or family member to die.

Through all the funerals, some of which continue for COVID-19, Ganzenmuller appreciated how the staff at Bryant Funeral Home and in the industry as a whole pulled together as a team.

“We’re saying to ourselves, ‘There’s hopefully light at the end of the tunnel when masks will come down and people can grieve in a normal way,’” she said. “They want to hug their family, they want to cry on them — and not give the elbows anymore.”

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