The Hamptons might be the ultimate getaway for the ultra-rich during the summertime, but the working-class residents who live there year-round—and tend to the wealthy during the peak season—have just as much of a stake in the region as their one percent counterparts, and they’re furious. The covid-19 outbreak has reportedly prompted several rich Hamptons homeowners to escape Manhattan and hunker down in the Long Island enclave, carelessly endangering “the help” along the way.
According to the New York Post, working-class residents are feeling the brunt of the surge of rich Manhattanites inundating the Hamptons:
The Springs resident says her friend, a nurse out here, reported that a wealthy Manhattan woman who tested positive called tiny Southampton Hospital to say she was on her way and needed treatment.
The woman was told to stay in Manhattan.
Instead, she allegedly got on public transportation, telling no one of her condition. Then she showed up at Southampton Hospital, demanding admittance.
“Someone else took a private jet to East Hampton and did not tell anybody ’til he landed,” the resident says. “That’s the most horrendous aspect. The virus is already here, and we don’t have any medical resources.”
The Post spoke to a lifelong resident of Montauk, who suggested blowing up the bridges so that the rich—and their coronavirus—can’t come in. He must have forgotten that they can just hop in the chopper with “the rona” in tow.
These newcomers are reportedly clearing shelves at grocery stores and stocking up on deep freezers (a P.C. Richard & Son in Southampton received 700 orders last weekend). But it’s not just supplies that they’re scooping up: home rentals are through the roof, with “panic-fleers” desperate to book getaway homes (as long as they have heated pools, apparently!) and relators more than ready to start bidding wars.
Unfortunately, this panic hasn’t entirely changed the lifestyle of the rich trying to escape their city enclaves. When many Americans began to take social distancing seriously, the new Hamptons residents decided to live life as if covid-19 couldn’t possibly reach the eastern end of Long Island.
From the Post:
As of last weekend, SoulCycle and Flywheel were packed, as were bars, restaurants, clothing stores and coffee shops. As of Monday, “there was a line out the door at [East Hampton restaurant] Mary’s and Starbucks,” says the Springs resident. “If you’re going to make such a hoopla over leaving the city and hoarding your food, why not stay in your million-dollar mansion on the waterfront? Don’t go to Starbucks! I’m sure you have a coffeemaker.”
When will Ina Garten, the one true queen of the Hamptons, weigh in on this calamity?