{"id":243398,"date":"2026-05-30T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/30\/fear-and-algae-in-the-hamptons-how-flesh-eating-bacteria-is-invading-the-east-coasts-swankiest-waterways\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T10:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T10:00:00","slug":"fear-and-algae-in-the-hamptons-how-flesh-eating-bacteria-is-invading-the-east-coasts-swankiest-waterways","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/30\/fear-and-algae-in-the-hamptons-how-flesh-eating-bacteria-is-invading-the-east-coasts-swankiest-waterways\/","title":{"rendered":"Fear and Algae in the Hamptons: How Flesh-Eating Bacteria Is Invading the East Coast\u2019s Swankiest Waterways"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"paywall\">Then came the pandemic, and the exodus of New Yorkers escaping quarantine in the city for their summer homes, which then became their primary residences as they rode out the lockdown. Home prices surged\u2014and so did waste production.<\/p>\n<div class=\"GenericCalloutWrapper-loJzHJ fANPZG\" data-testid=\"GenericCallout\">\n<aside aria-hidden=\"true\" data-testid=\"pullquote-embed\" class=\"PullQuoteEmbedWrapper-sc-efqGLV cDZhZJ\">\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m not going to sugarcoat it,\u201d Gobler said. \u201cPeople who are infected with this bacteria have a 20% chance of dying within just 48 hours.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"paywall\">The result has been a stunning amount of pollution and potential long-term environmental damage. According to the <a data-offer-url=\"https:\/\/news.stonybrook.edu\/university\/gobler-lab-monitors-algae-hungry-bacteria-in-long-island-waters\/\" class=\"external-link text link\" data-event-click=\"{&quot;element&quot;:&quot;ExternalLink&quot;,&quot;outgoingURL&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/news.stonybrook.edu\/university\/gobler-lab-monitors-algae-hungry-bacteria-in-long-island-waters\/&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/news.stonybrook.edu\/university\/gobler-lab-monitors-algae-hungry-bacteria-in-long-island-waters\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Gobler Lab<\/a>, increased sewage means increased nitrogen, which can lead to increased algae blooms, which can be toxic. The algae is also food for vibrio, which is potentially deadly to humans when it gets into shellfish or an open wound\u2014though despite Gobler\u2019s dire warnings, it largely hasn\u2019t been.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">Koepele, the oysterman, alleges that Gobler has previous when it comes to \u201csplashing very, very hideous headlines out there that are\u2014at the same time\u2014horror stories but clickbait.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">In 2024, Gobler released similar research on the rise of vibrio vulnificus in the area, but tells <em>Vanity Fair<\/em> that it didn\u2019t create a media firestorm at the time. However, a crop of <a data-offer-url=\"https:\/\/www.27east.com\/east-hampton-press\/article_711dd4aa-da5b-5f41-9700-d587c19b54fc.html\" class=\"external-link text link\" data-event-click=\"{&quot;element&quot;:&quot;ExternalLink&quot;,&quot;outgoingURL&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/www.27east.com\/east-hampton-press\/article_711dd4aa-da5b-5f41-9700-d587c19b54fc.html&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/www.27east.com\/east-hampton-press\/article_711dd4aa-da5b-5f41-9700-d587c19b54fc.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">news stories on flesh-eating bacteria<\/a> on Long Island\u2019s East End may have damaged the local oyster business that year.<\/p>\n<div class=\"GenericCalloutWrapper-loJzHJ NkSap\" data-testid=\"GenericCallout\">\n<figure class=\"AssetEmbedWrapper-iJvQnD cOWUYC asset-embed\">\n<div class=\"AssetEmbedAssetContainer-fnduJP iaVSwI asset-embed__asset-container\"><span class=\"SpanWrapper-kFnjvc eKnjjD responsive-asset AssetEmbedResponsiveAsset-gaAbQ hXaxHA asset-embed__responsive-asset\"><picture class=\"ResponsiveImagePicture-jKunQM gjCCFj AssetEmbedResponsiveAsset-gaAbQ hXaxHA asset-embed__responsive-asset responsive-image\"><\/picture><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"CaptionWrapper-bpPcvW kSFnyR caption AssetEmbedCaption-eZIMNW gMgneI asset-embed__caption\" data-testid=\"caption-wrapper\"><span class=\"BaseText-fEwdHD CaptionText-cQpRdU fayyTV hbiMYj caption__text\"><\/p>\n<p>Koepele says Gobler is overstating the risk\u2014and it&#8217;s harming the shellfish business.<\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"paywall\">\u201cIt dropped our sales immediately by 30%. It was pretty devastating,\u201d Koepele says. \u201cAnd [now] once again,\u201d he adds, referencing Gobler\u2019s State of the Bays presentation last month, \u201cflesh-eating virus was in his [slideshow] deck, and he was talking about three instances of deaths back in 2023.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">Koepele has a business interest in downplaying the danger in New York waters. But two of those three deaths did occur on the Connecticut side of the Long Island Sound, not in New York. <a data-offer-url=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/08\/16\/nyregion\/flesh-eating-bacteria-new-york-connecticut.html\" class=\"external-link text link\" data-event-click=\"{&quot;element&quot;:&quot;ExternalLink&quot;,&quot;outgoingURL&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/08\/16\/nyregion\/flesh-eating-bacteria-new-york-connecticut.html&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/08\/16\/nyregion\/flesh-eating-bacteria-new-york-connecticut.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><em>The New York Times<\/em><\/a> reported in August 2023 that the third death was vibrio-related, though New York governor Kathy Hochul\u2019s office <a href=\"https:\/\/www.governor.ny.gov\/news\/following-death-suffolk-county-tied-rare-vibrio-vulnificus-bacteria-governor-hochul-updates\" class=\"text link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a> at the time that \u201cthe death in Suffolk County is still being investigated to determine if the bacteria was encountered in New York waters or elsewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanityfair.com\/news\/story\/hamptons-flesh-eating-bacteria\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Then came the pandemic, and the exodus of New Yorkers escaping quarantine in the city for their summer homes, which then became their primary residences as they rode out the lockdown. Home prices surged\u2014and so did waste production. \u201cI\u2019m not going to sugarcoat it,\u201d Gobler said. \u201cPeople who are infected with this bacteria have a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":243399,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[2383,1770,15458,12094],"class_list":{"0":"post-243398","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrity","8":"tag-hamptons","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-oyster","11":"tag-the-hamptons"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}