________________ LONG BEACH _______________
HERALD Also serving Point Lookout & East Atlantic Beach
GIFT and DINING GUIDE November 25, 2021
$1.00
Inside: Best of the holiday season
Vol. 32 No. 48
l.B. gets $4.6M for consultants’ pay
lBPD holds anti-drug session
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NoVEMBER 25 - DECEMBER 1, 2021
Excited about a ‘normal’ Thanksgiving except we all got Covid tests before and isolated after the test, so we were very careful.” The coronavirus pandemic L a u r a S h o c k l e y, ow n e r altered the normal Thanksgiv- of Point Lookout & Wellness, is ing last year, forcing families taking a low-key approach to across the country to limit their Thanksgiving, as she did in gatherings — or not meet up at 2020. Her family, she said, all. Now many vaccinated peo- includes a number of young ple say they are children who are ready to return to unvaccinated. their usual holiday “If it was just festivities, though me, I wouldn’ t some still remain wor ry,” Shockley cautious about large said, “but I’m worget-togethers. ried about my stuDavid Fagan, a dents [at my busiLong Beach husness]. Many of them aNIssa MooRE are older,” making band and father of two, said the Covid- Community activist them potentially 19 vaccine would more susceptible to allow his family to infection. Shockley get together this year. “My fami- herself is vaccinated, but she is ly is going to get together planning a small, outdoor gathbecause we couldn’t last year,” ering of six or so friends. Fagan said. “Since we’re all vacIf she were to become ill with cinated, it allows us and gives Covid, she said, her business us the comfort to get together.” could suffer irreparable harm, Kim Ashmead, a for mer as her staff is small. Long Beach PTA member, said Point Lookout, she said, is “a her family would hold Thanks- safe place,” and she patronizes giving this year with friends at local restaurants and stores, but a vacation house in Massachu- avoids large gatherings. setts. She did the same last year. “The summer was not what I “Everyone is [now] fully vac- would like” in terms of busicinated, and some even have ness, she said. “We expanded boosters already,” Ashmead our yoga place, but we really, said. “Last year it was the same, Continued on page 14
By BRENDaN CaRPENtER bcarpenter@liherald.com
t
his year is going to be normal.
Christina Daly/Herald
thE EMERgENCy DEPaRtMENt remains closed after Mount Sinai South Nassau hospital abruptly shut it down Monday, citing a shortage of nurses.
Nursing shortage forces MSSN to close L.B. Emergency Dept. By JaMEs BERNstEIN and BRENDaN CaRPENtER jbernstein@liherald.com, bcarpenter@liherald.com
Mount Sinai South Nassau Hospital said Monday that it would close its Emergency Department in Long Beach temporarily “due to staff shortages occurring as a result of the state vaccine mandate.” As of press time on Wednesday, the department remained closed. The announcement provoked alarm and anger in
Long Beach, and a rally outside the closed facility on a chilly Tuesday night attended by about 60 people. City Council President John Bendo told the crowd that hospital officials claimed they had a shortage of qualified nurses. “We’re here tonight to tell them we’re not buying it,” Bendo said. The surprise announcement came in a news release on Monday afternoon. The hospital said that the Emergency Department would
close at 3 p.m. “The decision to temporarily close the facility was made after all other options were exhausted,” MSSN’s statement read. The hospital said that Long Beach patients in need of emergency care would be directed to the main campus in Oceanside. An ambulance will be stationed around the clock at the closed Long Beach facility for the duration of the closure, the hospital Continued on page 16