Seaford
CoMMuNItY uPDAtE Infections as of Dec. 14
586
Infections as of Dec. 7 508
HERALD Citizen
County prepares for Covid vaccine
Suez says smell wasn’t from error
Keeping schools open a priority
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DECEMBER 17- 23, 2020
Vol. 68 No. 51
Seniors hope to have one more go in ’21 Standouts deal with recruiting while hoping for H.S. season cate that season. “We didn’t do as well as we wanted to last year,” Van Emily Van O’Linda, Vincenzo O’Linda said. “Sophomore year Buffalino and Jake Schneider, we had won [the state championsenior student athletes at Want- ship], and maybe we had a agh, Seaford and General Doug- weight on our shoulders when las MacArthur high schools, we went into the [county tournare sp ect ively, are ment], where we lost faced with the possiin the semifinals. We bility that they may felt like this season have competed in would be a proving their final high ground once again.” school events last Volleyball, along year. While some with most other fall sports are more likesports, is tentatively ly to have a conscheduled to start on densed 2021 season March 1 in Nassau than others in the EMIlY VAN County, after being winter and spring, postponed because all three athletic o’lINDA of the coronavirus standouts still hold pandemic. As of out hope to play at the collegiate press time, Section VIII of the level next year. New York State Public High Van O’Linda has been a lead- School Athletic Association was er of the Warriors girls’ volley- standing by its plan to schedule a ball team since she was an regular season’s worth of games underclassman. In November in a more condensed time peri2018, as a sophomore, she played od. a key role in an astounding Class Van O’Linda said that what A state championship run by the she has missed most are daily Warriors. And the team’s focus practices with her friends and last year, she said, was to repliContinued on page 3
BY J.D. FREDA
jfreda@liherald.com
Courtesy Long Island Health & Racquet
loCAl gYMS AND fitness clubs around the greater Wantagh-Seaford area prepare for an unprecedented winter season in which keeping members safe and healthy is the primary objective.
Fitness centers prepare for an atypical winter season
How locals can avoid a fitness freeze at home BY DEREK FuttERMAN Local gyms have been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, but despite the steadily rising number of Covid-19 cases, fitness center owners and managers have done their best to remain optimistic, assuring the community that their facilities have not, and will not, become hot spots for
spreading the virus. Richard Schutt, the general manager of Long Island Health and Racquet, in Wantagh, pledges to “take care of the members” for as long as he is employed. “I started coming here when I was 5 years old,” Schutt said. “The members’ health and safety comes first to me, and I’ll do whatever it
takes to keep them healthy and happy.” Covid-19 has proven to be highly contagious, but gym owners are following state and federal guidelines, making sure patrons wear masks and keep their distance from one another, and frequently disinfecting equipment and other surfaces. Continued on page 15
I
t’s definitely harder for the recruiting process.