COVID Exodus Fills Vacation Towns With New Medical Pressures

Rural areas with scenic views are experiencing a real estate boom that's dramatically increasing health care service loads

Vacation homes, like this one in the Hamptons, have become a refuge for city dwellers fleeing COVID-19, but the massive migration has overwhelmed services in some of these smaller rural communities. Michael Rega/Shutterstock

The staff at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital are accustomed to the number of patients tripling or even quadrupling each summer when wealthy Manhattanites flee the city for the Hamptons. But this year, the COVID pandemic has upended everything.

The 125-bed hospital on the southern coast of Long Island has seen a huge upswing in demand for obstetrics and delivery services. The pandemic has families who once planned to deliver babies in New York or other big cities migrating to the Hamptons for the near term.