Town, county officials continue to work together to beat COVID
Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone (D) and Smithtown Supervisor Ed Wehrheim (R) stopped by Smithtown’s senior citizens center to talk about COVID-19 and distribute at-home tests to center visitors Friday, Feb. 25.
Before the press conference, county Legislator Leslie Kennedy (R-Nesconset) began delivering the 10,000 at-home COVID-19 test kits received by the town courtesy of the county. The kits were distributed on the day of the press conference and Monday to local assisted living communities, faith-based and small food pantries and community centers in the greater township.
Bellone said he reached out to New York Gov. Kathy Hocul (D) for help with continuing aid to vulnerable populations.
“This was the time to really begin the conversation about how we transition back to normal, to the stage where we are living with the virus, essentially the endemic stage of the virus, and you’re seeing that conversation happening now around the country, as well, which I think is very important,” Bellone said. “As we do that, as we move to that different stage of the virus and manage that risk moving forward, we do still need to be making sure we’re doing everything we can to provide the resources necessary to protect vulnerable populations, senior citizens, those who may have issues with immunity, etc. We need to make sure that things that we know work that are available that they are easily accessible and available to those residents.”
Suffolk officials have been working with various partners such as nonprofits and law enforcement agencies since the beginning of the year to distribute at-home tests, masks and hand sanitizer to the most vulnerable. Bellone said the county has distributed at this point over 200,000 test kits and expects over the next six months that Suffolk will be distributing several hundred thousand more test kits, focusing on the most vulnerable populations.
Bellone added that vaccines, testing and therapeutics have been making a difference.
The county supervisor thanked Wehrheim for his help during the pandemic.
“Supervisor Wehrheim has been an example of the kind of leadership that you need in unprecedented times, and I truly appreciate his partnership and the work that we were able to do together during the pandemic,” Bellone said.
Wehrheim also thanked Bellone for helping the town ensure that no one went without essentials during the pandemic and for the county’s continued support, especially for those on fixed incomes.
“Now families can visit loved ones in nursing homes with easy access to at-home test kits,” Wehrheim said. “Our older seniors can come back to a great senior community and our great senior citizens department to enjoy socializing. Most importantly, we can get back to living again, safer.”
New phase
Bellone said Suffolk County is moving into a new phase of the pandemic.
“We just recently went through what I would characterize as the second most impactful wave of this virus,” he said, adding the omicron wave’s variant infection and hospitalization rates were as high as at the beginning of the pandemic and the county once again saw double-digit deaths.
“We know that this pandemic has caused incalculable devastation, and there will be impacts that we’ll be dealing with for a long time to come, no doubt,” he said. “But, what is clear now is — I think a couple things — we’re moving into a different phase, and this virus is not going to go away. It is going to be here with us. It is something that we are going to be living with.”
