WPCNR WEDNESDAY GOVERNOR ANDREW M. CUOMO COVID BRIEFING. By John F. Bailey May 6, 2020:
The state effort to fInd out more about who is getting new covid-19 hospitalizations which continued at 600 new hospitalizations Tuesday produced a surprise.
The Governor said 66% of new hospitalizations came from their homes where they were living. “This was a surprise,” the Governor said. “They were not first responders, working in dense environments, riding transit systems, they were from their homes (where they lived).”
The governor said the survey found the majority of persons Covid-19 positive having to be hospitalized were over fifty years of age. 34% of persons in the over 50 group were from 50 to 70 years of age.
The governor said this seemed to suggest persons in their homes should limit gatherings, particularly of children and friends coming to socialize, or if doing so be sure to wear a mask. He strongly said, the lesson that persons who were staying home and lead in new hospitalizations ;
“Much of what you can do to not catch the virus comes down to what you are doing in your home. Your personal behavior is the determining factor in whether you get the disease. This is not a group (persons staying at home) we can target with this infection. It’s really about personal behavior.”
The Governor reported a new hotspot in Oneida County, a vegetable farm which has “dozens” of cases. He pointed out that it was not vegetables that were the problem, it was the “density” of the environment.
In other news made during the “Q & A” with media, the Governor announced a software system now being tried in Nassau County was the first step in the tracing system Michael Bloomberg, the information dissemination pioneer, creator of Bloomberg Radio and former Mayor of New York City, that would analyze tracing results and enable swift overlays of how new infections were spreading in counties across New York State.
Dr. Howard Zucker, Commissioner of Public Health in New York State, said the Center for Contagious Diseases is now analyzing antibody testing results to determine if persons with antibodies are immune to catching the virus again, but a conclusion has not been reached.
The Governor introduced by telephone Eric Schmitt, founder of Google who has agreed to analyze New York systems technologies to prepare technical communication advances for the state and businesses.
The Briefing concluded with the Governor recognizing today as National Nurses Day.
In the Q. & A. session with the media, Governor Cuomo in a question about absentee ballots being distributed, made clear that Board of Elections were responsible for disseminating the absentee ballots for Democratic and Republican primaries, but it is unclear if they are to distribute them to school districts, too. The Governor said that no Board of Elections in the state has contacted his office about this being a problem.
White Plains School district to send out Absentee Ballots to 33,000. Must be received by 5 PM June 9 to be counted.
In the city of White Plains the school budget and elections now designated by the governor to take place June 9, would be conducted by absentee ballots. All registered voters (about 33,000) are supposed to be sent the ballots.
The district has presumably never had to send out 33,000 absentee ballots before, The district does send out 33,000 budget information notices.
Dr. Joseph Ricca, Superintendent of Schools for the White Plains City School District told WPCNR in an interview this afternoon, the school district is working hard on printing the 33,000 absentee ballots, and postage paid reply envelopes to get them sent out in time. to be returned by the day of the vote. (There will be no polling places to go to. The only way to vote is by absentee ballot.)
“The ballots must be received by 5 PM on the budget vote date June 9, otherwise they do not count,” Dr. Ricca said. He anticipated the ballots being sent out a week ahead of the vote, but was not sure. On the absentee ballot will be the YES NO vote on the School Budget proposed for 2020-2021, and two school board candidates running unopposed.
