
Relaxed visitation rules for nursing homes
Nursing homes prepare to receive visitors after rule change

A corridor of a nursing home prior to the pandemic. Credit: Newsday/Jessica Rotkiewicz
The decision to allow visitors into nursing homes changes an edict designed to keep elderly residents safe, and also caused anguish to people who, in some cases, went a year without spending time in person with loved ones.
The state said that the new rules match guidance from the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Huntington Hills Center for Health and Rehabilitation in Melville expects to start allowing visitors on Friday, administrator Ken Knutsen said.
"But the process has to be reasonable," he said. "I want to avoid a stampede and keep everyone safe. It'll be a strategic approach. I hope people tell us when they plan on coming."
Gurwin Jewish Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in Commack on Friday said in a statement that it would restart visitations as soon as possible, once it had reviewed health department requirements and implemented a plan.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo late Thursday afternoon relaxed nursing home visitation rules, effective immediately, saying residents of those facilities can receive visitors at all times, with some exceptions.
Indoor visitation will remain off-limits for unvaccinated residents if the county positivity rate where the nursing home is located is above 10% and fewer than 70% of residents are fully vaccinated. Those limits will also apply for residents with confirmed COVID-19 infection and those in quarantine, whether vaccinated or not.
Vaccine side effects. While the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines have proved safe and effective against serious cases of coronavirus, some of those vaccinated have experienced mild side effects. Here are answers to some common questions.
The number of new positives reported today: 696 in Nassau, 736 in Suffolk, 4,393 in New York City and 8,507 statewide.
The chart below shows what percentage of coronavirus tests were positive for the virus on average each day over a seven-day period.

Seven-day COVID-19 positivity rates for Nassau and Suffolk.
Search a map of new cases and view charts showing the latest local trends in testing, hospitalizations, deaths and more.
LI couples say ‘I do’ to additional wedding costs

Long Island couples are layering on a 'minimony' to their wedding costs during the pandemic.
Dropping tens of thousands of dollars on a wedding has become average for Long Island couples, studies find.
But in the COVID-19 era, many brides and grooms are tacking on an unexpected cost: the minimony.
For Michelle Rock, 30, and Jonathan Pavlica, 30, of Bellerose, that meant spending another $5,000 on a 3-hour wedding at Westbury Manor with only eight guests on top of their previously budgeted $35,000 for a 90-person event at Chateau Briand, set for later this year.
See theirs and other 'minimonies' and learn how much couples are spending on average to wed during the pandemic.
Shared Work Program keeps employees on the job

Long Island Community Hospital employee Megan P. Sibley and President and CEO Richard T. Margulis outside the Patchogue hospital. Credit: Barry Sloan
Despite having her work hours cut, Megan P. Sibley paid her bills on time and stayed current on her house payments thanks to a little-known state program that made up for some of her lost wages.
Sibley, an information services project leader at Long Island Community Hospital, went to a four-day workweek for three months last year as the coronavirus walloped her employer’s bottom line. But she received unemployment benefits for the fifth day under the Shared Work Program from the state Labor Department.
The program forestalls layoffs by encouraging employers who are experiencing financial difficulty to hold onto their workforce — albeit with reduced hours — by providing jobless benefits to employees for the time they don't work. They can collect unemployment for up to 26 weeks per year and their health insurance and retirement plans continue to be funded by their employer.
Sibley, of Patchogue, is among nearly 61,600 New Yorkers, including 5,525 on Long Island, who didn’t receive pandemic pink slips because of Shared Work, state records show. The program has been around 35 years.
"If I had been laid off permanently, or fully furloughed, that would have put me in some serious financial hardship because I’m single, own my own home and don’t have a nest egg," said Sibley, 47, who has worked at the Patchogue hospital for 17 years.
51 weeks of cookies

The nurses of Stony Brook University Hospital's labor and delivery unit showed their appreciation for Sarah Geiser's baked goods by giving her a thank-you card, a photo album and gift cards. Credit: Omar Abuzeid
Sarah Geiser has been baking for the staff of Stony Brook University Hospital’s labor and delivery unit every week since April 1, 2020 — close to when the coronavirus pandemic began. That's 51 straight weeks of baked goods.
The 27-year-old baker usually bakes cupcakes and cookies, and changes the flavors every week so the staff never knows what they’ll get.
Geiser, of Belle Terre, says: "I like Funfetti the best."
Debbie Del Giorno, a nurse in the unit who has known Geiser since she was 4 years old — they used to be neighbors — said work became "very traumatic" when the pandemic began. She said she took care of mothers who tested positive for COVID-19 and had miscarriages, and her co-workers were deployed to other parts of the hospital to help with the influx of COVID patients.
"We were short-staffed, and it was overwhelming," she said. "We needed something to cheer us up."
More to know
Researchers in the U.S. and abroad are beginning to test younger and younger kids to make sure COVID-19 vaccines are safe and work for each age.
Nassau County Executive Laura Curran, in a series of interviews conducted since the pandemic hit a year ago, described how she and other top county officials dealt with the worst health crisis to hit the nation in 100 years, starting from when infections grew from a "trickle to a flood."
Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone, in a similar series of interviews, also recalled how the pandemic went from '0 to 100 overnight.'
Federal disaster loans to help small businesses, nonprofits and farms survive the pandemic are being increased to a maximum of $500,000 per applicant from the current $150,000, officials said Wednesday.
Nearly 90 Long Island nonprofits gathered virtually Thursday to reflect on the challenges the pandemic has presented, "with no clear end in sight," and the successes they've had in meeting them.
The Long Island high school football game of the year may happen this Saturday as two of the area's most-decorated football programs come together, a result of the pandemic forcing some teams to cancel or postpone games and leaving others looking for a contest when an opponent has to pull out.
News for you

If you're looking for things to do this season, enjoy a drive-in movie on Long Island. Credit: Kendall Rodriguez
A new season of drive-in movies. Pop-up drive-in movies are springing up around Long Island again. Here's a schedule. You'll want to reserve your tickets in advance, if possible, and have a plan for how you'll handle food and drinks.
MacArthur adds nonstop flights. As the travel industry gears up from a world of pandemic shutdown, Long Island MacArthur Airport announced Thursday that Southwest Airlines will soon begin nonstop service to the home of country music, Nashville, Tennessee.
Adventureland partially open. The arcade area only at Adventureland in Farmingdale will be open March 27 to April 5, but closed Easter Sunday, and tickets for admission are required and must be purchased in advance. (The rides open April 10.) Find more details including other events happening this weekend and during spring break in our updated guide to things to do on Long Island.
Running a home-based business. With the pandemic putting brick-and-mortar establishments out of business and people out of work, many Long Islanders have been doing business from home to support themselves, or supplement their income. If you're among them or considering a shift to a home-based business, here are some tips and lessons learned from others.
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Commentary

A COVID-19 vaccine is administered at a mass vaccination site. Credit: AP/Rick West
How to convince those reluctant to get COVID-19 vaccine. Doug Badger and Edmund F. Haislmaier wrote this piece for The Heritage Foundation. One-third of Republican respondents told pollsters earlier this month that they don’t plan to get COVID-19 shots. Another 20% said they haven’t yet made up their minds.
While public health officials have been worried about vaccine skepticism among minorities, the poll’s responses diverged much more by political affiliation than by race.
To understand why many politically moderate to conservative Americans seem disinclined to get vaccinated, GOP pollster Frank Luntz recently convened a focus group of "vaccine-hesitant Trump voters." What he heard, as reported by The Washington Post, was illuminating.
By the end of the session, all the participants said they were now more likely to get immunized.
One participant’s comment crystallized the key lesson from the two-hour exercise: "We want to be educated, not indoctrinated." Continue reading.