Friday, July 17, 2020
Vol. 80, No. 29
$1 Central Nass
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VETERAN HONORED
Hospital director leads COVID-19 forum BY GARY SIMEONE
Hempstead Town Supervisor Don Clavin (second left), Councilman Dennis Dunne (right) and Town Clerk Kate Murray (left) presented the Town of Hempstead Veterans Service Award to Frank Marcinek, commander of the Levittown American Legion Post 1711, for his dedicated volunteerism on behalf of his fellow veterans. Frank, a veteran of the United States Air Force, has worked tirelessly to ensure that his fellow veterans receive the proper recognition. He has designed many stunning statues, murals and other memorials at the American Legion and at Veterans Park in Levittown.
Levittown Board of Ed elects officers
During the Levittown Public Schools’ annual Board of Education reorganization meeting on July 6, returning board members Dillon Cain, Jennifer Messina and Michael Pappas
were sworn in for another term, along with Superintendent of Schools Dr. Tonie McDonald. Due to the pandemic, the meeting was streamed online for the public to listen. Peggy
Marenghi was reelected as board president, Christina Lang was elected as board vice president and Messina was appointed as board secretary for the 2020-21 school year.
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Michael Fener, executive director of Syosset and Plainview Hospitals, was a panelist on a recent online forum entitled ‘COVID-19 and Your Community.’ He, along with Nassau County Legislator Arnold Drucker and his assistant Crystal Berger, helped to answer people’s queries about new hospital regulations during the pandemic. Fener said that the current situations at both hospitals are very different compared to how they were during the height of the pandemic in March and April. “At Syosset, we have not had any COVID patients in months and we are currently not admitting COVID patients,” said Fener. “We are allowing patients back in now for nonCOVID surgeries and every patient must undergo a nasal swab to ensure they are not positive for the disease.” He said that Plainview Hospital, which at one time had 160 COVID patients and a quarter of them in the ICU, is typically seeing only one or two patients on a weekly basis. Drucker, who served as a moderator on the forum, asked the hospital director about the reliability of antibody tests and the level of immunity from coronavirus for people who had developed antibodies. “I am not a physician so I can’t tell you how long antibodies last or if they’re effective in preventing a second bout of COVID,” said Fener. “The thing with this disease is that it’s novel to the human population, so there is a lot people don’t know about it and are still in the process of learning.”
Another question was in regards to the demographic of the face of the disease and how it has been shifting to a younger population. “In other states, there has been a significant rise of coronavirus cases in young people. Do you see that demographic changing in our community?” asked Drucker. Fener said that he has not seen a rise in cases in the younger population at either hospital. “When we were in the midst of the pandemic a few months ago, we were seeing sick people across the entire age spectrum, so in regards to that, not much has changed,” said Fener. Another question was regarding the hospital’s treatment of the disease and if there have been any recent breakthroughs in how people are treated. “There have been a lot of studies with medications like hydroxychloroquine and Remdesivir to treat the virus, and studies have either panned out or they’ve been discredited. All of this is still retrospective data because unfortunately, there is still a lot we don’t know about the disease process.” The hospital’s ability to treat people if there is a second wave of the virus was a topic brought up in the forum. Fener said both Syosset and Plainview have excess capacity available and that plans were made to treat people if there was a resurgence in cases. “Both hospitals have doubled their capacity to handle an influx of patients as was mandated by our governor. Northwell Health also has a mobile tent that can be deployed to the hospitals if there is an overflow.”
The Hawks have left the nest! PAGE 11 Enjoy a staycation on Long Island PAGE 15