WHITE PLAINS CITIZENETREPORTER SETS RECORD VISITS FOR YEAR 7,017,658 VISITS! 2,098,003 VISITORS MADE 6 VISITS A DAY EVERY DAY. 63,330 UNIQUE VISITORS MADE 133,730 VISITS IN DECEMBER. WPCNR AVERAGED 17,284 VISITORS A WEEK, VISITING 31,270 TIMES.

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WPCNR THE SUNDAY BAILEY.  News & Comment John F. Bailey . February 6, 2022:

Newspapers, Pundits, Politicians, Governors, Parents, Companies, Presidents are at the urging of fans are choosing to Go for it on 4^th Down and Unknown  in the Covid Bowl.

That is this coming Super Bowl Sunday. The good news is all over the mediaAAAAAA.

The opinion pushed out as fact on media of all interests and biases are  delivering the good news —  we have beaten Covid. Now we can go to ‘Back to Normal Week.” In fact, Governor Patrick Murphy of New Jersey says masks do not have to be worn in schools in New Jersey beginning in March. Cross your fingers parents in New Jersey!

Covid is in the rearview mirror and we are getting back to normal after the national 4^th  massive covid wave in mid-December through January. That is the mantra in the irresponsible media today.

Millions and millions and millions of Super Bowl Parties will take place from border to border Canada to Del Rio Texas West to Monterrey and East to Savannah. South to Miami Beach.

Ten, fifteen, twenty-five and tens more may  gather together in  in mansions, hotels, cramped apartments and elegant private homes.   They will crowd and huddle to watch modern Gladiators compete in the Super Bowl in High Definition across the country with children, young people and parents and relatives present.

Of course being responsible adults  and kids, they will all be wearing masks. They will be socially distancing, wearing their masks lifting up to quaff a beer or a drink, chips, dips, platters of antipasto, cold cuts, shrimp, in buffets of bounty from local delis, supermarkets. Eating and drinking for three hours

 Every day I read good news. Today, hospitals are saying they are handling the increase in omicron infections well (despite shortages of personnel) around the metro area.

Nationally, not as good. Infections of covid are still running  high across the country though they have dropped.

 And ever since the infections started to drop, we have heard steady clamorings from parents to drop mask-wearing to schools; among other practices, as well as feel good propaganda from doctors, experts and reporters that it is safe to go back to normal.

We had this virus beaten in June and opened up beaches, bars, sports. Too soon, we got careless with a lead and played zone defense of a sort.

Coming up though is the day when 85% of the country watches the Super Bowl in homes, bars, and large venues nationwide.

Do we remember what happened going into Thanksgiving?  Four weeks later we had the highest number of covid cases in Westchester in one day, 7,659  covid infections reported on December 29.  Thatr was one month and 8 days ago.

Now we are having next Sunday Super Bowl Sunday. Endless pregame. Endless game. The postgame. Hours of mingling, of course, masked and socially distanced, do you think?

I was reminded of this after a Talk Radio appearance Friday. After we were off  the air. The host and I got to talking and he suddenly said, well what about the SuperBowl. I said you’re right that could be a “Super Spreader.”

On Sunday the very act of playing the game will give covid a fresh set of downs on a self-inflicted P enalty Flag for Flagrant Parttying.

Here we are as a nation finally stopping this economy-stopping Fourth Wave caused by opening up the summer too soon because Governor Cuomo and the Albany politicians wanted him out on sexual harassment charges.

 Well the opening up gave covid another chance. It grew through the summer because no city or town in this county enforced masking, social distancing, or vaccinations. We gave them but did not make them mandatoru.

After vaccines stopped the disastrous Fourth Wave, schools returned responsibly,  the Red Death is finally down and turning into a matter of self-discipline, personal responsibility, and getting vaccinated.

In a typical NFL game result a stupid penalty, a stupid interference, and amateur officiating results in Westchester New York and the nation delivering victory into the waiting jaws of covid defeat, due to pollyanna wishful thinking instead of smart behavior and the irresponsibility of the media which has a vested interested in getting things back to normal too.

Those infections from the unvaccinated, the unmasked at those thousands of parties, spreading the disease with shouting, talking, partying, face to face may spread a 5^th SuperBowl SuperWave.

It will not spreading gradually like the third wave but simultaneously into the whole country within 3 weeks like a national covid long bomb connecting like a Brady pass into a prevent defense as covid gets a replay in a redo of 4th Down and Unknown. Thousands more infections and deaths nationwide, not just 15 yards.

In New York we are still fragile in the ability of hospitals to staff druring another serious outbreak and what if the virus mutates again and beats the vaccines?

What if the spread does start again? Instead of oozing in gradually from Orange Rockland, Dutchess, Putnam and Ulster, Westchester and Nassau and Suffolk Counties it will happen in all 9 counties and The Bronx, Manhatten, Staten Island, Brooklyn and Queens BOOM! as John Madden would describe it.

This game should never have been played due the serious  interval we are now in.

It means nothing. It is just entertainment.

just as the Olympics should never have continued to be staged in China because of China’s irresponsible behavior.

February is also a month of other opportunities for Covid to ignite: Valentines Day where going out, sweethearting intimacies could reignite the growth.

There is also the 10-day vacation at most schools in the county. Travel, socialization again a chance to spread the disease.

For your own safety get vaccinated. Continue to mask and socialize responsibly.

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WPCNR THE LETTER TICKER. February 5, 2022:

Let’s plan ahead for a NEW SENIOR CENTER in White Plains                                        

The lease on the current rented Senior Center, in the basement of the Armory on Mitchell Place and S. Broadway, will expire in about 6 to 7 years. The Center was flooded in 2021, became unusable, and required extensive repairs. Senior activities have been held in the White Plains Public Library, and before that outdoor in a park. Activities will resume in the Armory basement in the spring.

White Plains needs a new Senior Center befitting a City that is encouraging the building of many more apartments, more arts, and more restaurants. It needs a center to provide space for seniors to socialize, exercise, eat together, and learn and practice new skills.

What should a new White Plains Senior Center include? 

It should have accessibility; enough large rooms, and one with a stage, so that arranging a lunch time holiday party won’t preempt popular morning exercise classes; places for informal socializing; a walking track; a library; space for a meal program with up-to-date equipment; a computer room; a room for nurse consultation in privacy; a safe area for drop-offs and for parking; offices for personnel. What about placing the Senior Center on an entry-level floor in one of the new residences to be built on the Winbrook campus?

… … …

What would you like a new Senior Center to include? Have you visited other Senior Centers?

Send your ideas to:

Mayor Tom Roach tmroachwp@gmail.com  

Hon. Justin Brasch braschlaw@aol.com 

Hon. Nadine Hunt-Robinson   nadine.hunt.robinson@gmail.com    

Hon. John Martin jmartin@allnyt.com

Hon. Rich Payne  RPayne76@hotmail.com                                

Hon. Vicki Presser  VPresser@aol.com 

Hon. Jen Puja  pujaforwhiteplains@gmail.com

Many thanks for thinking about this exciting project – A New Senior Center for White Plains.

Renee Cohen

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WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. By John F. Bailey. February 2, 2022:

A cross section of school district positives recorded since September seems to indicate that positive tests for covid among students is up from last year’s levels.

In the White Plains City School District of 1,874 students, teachers, and staff, 1,683 have tested positive since the return to in-school instruction in September. That is 21.4 %.

Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Joseph Ricca, asked if this was due to increased testing of students issued this statement:

“Thankfully, our numbers of positive cases are rapidly decreasing. We experienced the surge following the holiday recess. However, since about Wednesday last week, we are moving in the right direction. I do think that the added availability of testing helped us to identify cases as well.”

A WPCNR random sampling of neighboring districts in central Westchester and to the south and north show percentages of positives among students, teachers and staff  to date  from the beginning of school in September by enrollment.

                        POSITIVES         PCT          STUDENTS,TEACHERS      TREND

                                                                           STAFF                   LAST 7 DAYS

                                                                         IN DISTRICT          1/26-FEB 1

WHITE PLAINS       1,683        21.4%                  1,874                      UP 29

GREENBURGH        324           15%                      2,066                    UP 13

 HARRISON:             740          17%                      4,301                    UP 48

SCARSDALE:            887          15.7%                   5,648                     UP 61

VALHALLA              179            11%                      1,609                    UP    7

NEW ROCHELLE    1,032         9%                       11,766                   UP 67

YONKERS               1,779          6.1%                    29,220                  UP 90

MT.VERNON         1,841          22%                        8,316                  UP 9

EASTCHESTER        490            13.5%                    3,626                  UP 16

PORT CHESTER/RYE        623          12%              5,215            UP 27

PEEKSKILL                        420           10%              4,186            UP 10

YORKTOWN                    707            18%               3,951          UP 42

PLEASANTVILLE              322            23%               1,351            UP 5

CHAPPAQUA                  306             7.3%              4,166            UP 8

CORTLANDT                    146             6.5%              2,238             0

Data from the New York State School Positives website

The first two weeks of February will be key to controlling new cases of covid going into the Valentines Day socializing Feb. 12-13,14 followed by the winter recess week of February 18 through  27 (in White Plains). The  relative low positives from January 26 to Feb. 1^st with these towns would indicate that students spreading the coronavirus the first two weeks of February may be low.

In March, schools return to the only month month with 4 straight weeks with no holiday weekends which may elevate the number of positives resulting from Valentines Day and the winter recess that lasts 10 days.  The week-long  winter recess may have the effect of spreading the covid virus.

Adults and students should be wary of spreading or putting themselves in possible situations where they may contact the virus.