On 20 March 2020 New York governor Andrew Cuomo announced a statewide stay-at-home order effective from 22 March. What followed was a mass exodus on the part of the wealthy, and the beginning of an on-going period of uncertainty for many New Yorkers. 

 changed the way of life for many Manhattanites, but, rich or less well off, a vast number of them ended up flocking to the same place: The Hamptons.

A string of seaside communities on eastern Long Island’s South Fork, The Hamptons is known for long stretches of beach, hidden 18th-century-style estates and high-end restaurants and boutiques. Jackie Kennedy famously ‘summered’ there. Stella McCartney owns a $1.5 million house in Amagansett. Calvin Klein spent over $75 million building his own concrete and glass home in Southampton.

, driven by coronavirus fears, the summer vacationers are now extending their stay in The Hamptons, leading to exhaustion among local business owners and tensions between visitors and year-round residents.

“Nobody is fucking leaving,” an irate interviewee laments in the piece. With rentals still booming, landscaping businesses working around the clock and Manhattan’s out of work restaurant staff finding new employment among the Hamptons’ endless summer, has the seat of American wealth shifted back to the exclusive eastern beaches once and for all?

, Kanye West famously lamented the Hamptons as the seat of American power. “They prolly all in the Hamptons, Braggin’ ’bout what they made, Fuck you and your Hampton house,” he raps before going on to detail what he’d like to do with your “Hampton spouse”.

He has a point. You needn’t be au fait with American high society to be aware of The Hamptons as an (often vulgar) playground of money, beach houses, yachts, rose and linen shirts. Google ‘the Hamptons’ and the first three suggested questions are: “Which is the richest part of the Hamptons?”; “Which celebrities live in the Hamptons?”; and “Is the Hamptons expensive?” The answers, in case you’re interested, are: 1. Southampton Village, Water Mill, Bridgehampton, Sagaponack and East Hampton Village; 2. Everyone from Anthony Scaramucci and Jimmy Fallon to Beyonce and Jay Z; and 3. Very.

Today, the most expensive properties are located on ‘Billionaire’s Lane’. The late billionaire conservative donor David Koch had a $58.7 billion house here before his death in 2019. Healthcare mogul Vivek Garipalli paid $11 million for a home there in 2012 while Daniel Och, CEO of Och-Ziff Capital Management Group, paid $26.5 million for his four-acre home. One house, designed by architect Myron Goldfinger and featured in 

Not all residents have an excess of zeroes in their bank accounts. Nor do the uber-rich typically stay there all year. East Hampton has a year-round population of roughly 21,000. It’s estimated that this quadruples in the summer. Then, around the Labour Day celebrations on the first weekend of September, everyone files back to New York City and life for the year-rounders returns to normal.

This year, however, that hasn’t been the case. With New York City suffering particularly badly during the coronavirus pandemic, many residents chose to stay out in The Hamptons for longer (as the 

 article suggests, that this allows them to avoid pricey NYC residency taxes is surely an added incentive).

The added numbers have been a boon to the local economy. Speaking with 

, local attorney Rita Bonicelli explains that many young families are buying homes in The Hamptons. Meanwhile, local wine, firewood and landscaping businesses have all seen an uptick in business as summer vacationers hunker down into autumn for the first time. And with children due back at school, local and NYC-based private schools have opened more campuses in The Hamptons in order to cater to those who won’t be returning to the Big Apple any time soon.

 piece goes on to explain that not all is rosy evenings and rosé, though. Increased numbers means an expensive strain on the area’s old fashioned plumbing, while social gatherings spark coronavirus fears. In fact, as CNN reports, at some private Hamptons parties, hosts are now paying for guests to take expensive and rapid coronavirus tests at the door; it’s a Ballardian image, queue of tuxedoed and gowned guests joking as they wait, glass in hand, to find out if the global pandemic really can touch them, even with their wealth, even hidden away in this exclusive enclave. Meanwhile, the 

 has announced that even more New Yorkers are rushing to the Hamptons ahead of second-wave fears in the city.

It isn’t just the rich who are flocking east, though. The 

 also reports on the out of work NYC restaurant workers who have been forced to move to the Hamptons, often leaving their family behind, just to find work. “It is very hard because I don’t get to see my family. It is like I am living in another country and I hope I don’t have the virus when I come back to see them,” said one worker, who only gave a first name of Luis. Forced to find work in the Hamptons, Luis made $1,800 a week after taxes in New York, before losing his job due to coronavirus. He now works full time in the Hamptons, sending money back to his family.

Alongside restaurant workers and vacationing financiers, the exodus to The Hamptons has drawn others, too. Earlier this year the 

Eastward Ho! Even Art is leaving for the Hamptons

. The area has long been known for its sophisticated art scene. Jackson Pollock, William de Kooning and Lee Krasner lived in Springs, while well-known galleries like the Pollock-Krasner House, Parrish Art Museum and Guild Hall are open to the public year-round.

 opines that as art consumers leave the city for the Hamptons, dealers are following. With traditional exhibitions and viewings disrupted, the dealers hope they can make a quick sale on the hoof. “There, they hope, convenience and sheer proximity will spur sales and cultivate relationships,” Rosenberg writes. With galleries re-opening, it’s likely that The Hamptons’ art scene will continue to boom hand in hand with the area’s growing visitor numbers.

Despite tensions, the Hampton’s population boom has inarguably been of great benefit to the local economy. While landscapers and hoteliers may find themselves exhausted this month, the extra cash in their pockets will come as a reassurance at a time when the world is poised on the brink of recession.

The question that remains is what will happen if and when the pandemic abates, and life returns to normal? Will the art dealers slink back home, following their customers? Will the likes of Luis get their jobs back in New York? Will celebrity mansions suddenly abandon their landscaping projects, or stand empty, leading to another Ballardian image of a multitude of empty swimming pools awaiting their owners?

In short, will the endless summer finally be over for another year?

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