News

County closes Wildwood Lake Beach due to bacteria

By Vera Chinese

The Suffolk County Department of Health closed Wildwood Lake in Northampton to bathers Friday due to high bacteria levels. The beach closure came the same day the county announced three mosquitos samples taken from Riverhead Town tested positive for West Nile virus.
The West Nile samples were taken from two sites in Jamesport and one in Aquebogue between July 21 and July 23. Positive West Nile samples were also found at 16 other sites in Suffolk County during those days.
West Nile is transmitted to humans and other mammals through mosquitoes. No cases of the virus in humans, horses or birds have been reported in Suffolk County this year.
Officials said that dead birds can be a sign of the virus and advise residents that see any to call the county’s hotline at 787-2200.
As for the beach at Wildwood Lake, county officials did not say how long it would be closed.
The Department of Health regularly tests Suffolk’s bathing beaches for bacteria levels from May to September, according to the county’s website.
For the latest information on affected beaches, call the Bathing Beach hotline at 852-5822.
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Vera Chinese has been the editor of northforker.com and northforker magazines since May 2014. Prior to that she spent two and a half years as a staff reporter for the New York Daily News. She joined the Riverhead News-Review as a staff writer in January 2010 and was named Associate Web Editor nine months later. She previously worked for the Southampton Press Western Edition and was named the third place 2008 Rookie Reporter of the Year by the New York Press Association. She graduated from Wagner College in 2006 where she received a bachelor's degree in English. She earned a master's degree in English education from New York University in 2007. She is a 2002 graduate of Eastport High School and has lived on the East End for more than 20 years.

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