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your HEALTH body / mind / fitness
November 18, 2021
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HERALD Here’s to healthy holidays Inside
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Vol. 69 No. 47
American legion honors veterans
Chamber honors businessperson
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NoVEMBER 18 - 24, 2021
Wantagh nets county, L.I. V-ball crowns By ANdREW CoEN sports@liherald.com
Karen Millindorf/Herald
WANtAgH pRoVEd BEst Nov. 10 when it defeated Calhoun in four sets to capture the Nassau County Class A girls’ volleyball championship at LIU-Post.
Wantagh girls’ volleyball has created a new dynasty. The Warriors captured their third Class A title in four years with a four-set triumph over Calhoun Nov. 10 at LIU-Post, 25-29, 25-15, 25-18, 25-18, a decade after the program won three county crowns in a row from 2009 to 2011. Three days later, Wantagh captured the program’s second Long Island title in four years with a 3-1 win over Kings Park to reach the state tournament this weekend. Wantagh’s latest championship run came after it lost a large chunk of last season’s county title-winning squad. “We didn’t know going into this year what we had because we graduated nine seniors, with seven of them college athletes,” WantContinued on page 12
Health officials: Legionnaires’ outbreak has run its course By KAtE NAlEpiNsKi knalepinski@liherald.com
The cause of the Legionnaires’ disease cluster that broke out on the Wantagh-Levittown border may have been eliminated, Nassau County health officials said. Mary Ellen Laurain, spokeswoman for the Department of Health, said that the county conducted tests following last
month’s outbreak, in which approximately 10 people who live within a one-mile radius of the corner of Wantagh Avenue and Old Jerusalem Road contracted Legionellosis. The testing was done to determine the source of the infection. Laurain said she could not provide the details of the county’s investigation, but added that all samples that were tested for the bacteria came back negative.
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Legionellosis is a disease caused by a bacterium called Legionella, which is found naturally in the environment. It typically grows in warm water, in hot tubs, cooling towers, hotwater tanks or large plumbing systems and decorative fountains that are not properly maintained, according to the New York State De par tment of Health. People contract Legionnaires’
disease when they breathe in a mist or vapor containing the bacteria. In the recent local outbreak, 96-year-old John Liljehult died in mid-October after contracting the disease. All of the other individuals who became ill — the youngest age 35 — recovered on their own or were hospitalized at St. Joseph’s Hospital, in Bethpage, or NYU Langone Hospital Long Island, in Mineola, and recovered.
“We haven’t seen any additional cases, so we really feel like it’s most likely eradicated, which is what happens with Legionella,” Laurain said. “It’s ubiquitous in the environment; it lives in water and soil.” Nassau County Legislator Steve Rhoads said he had been in regular contact with the county Health Department, and “they are optimistic that whatever conContinued on page 9