THE WORLD READS WHITE PLAINS CITIZENETREPORTER — 8,324,077 VISITS IN ONE YEAR

TESTING MATERIALS ROADBLOCK TO REOPENING—FEDERAL GOVT PLEASE EXPEDITE

SCHOOLS CANNOT REOPEN.

SOME HOSPITALS UPSTATE MIGHT BE CLEARED FOR ELECTIVE SURGERIES.

IF STATE DECIDES TO REOPEN SCHOOLS.

SCHOOL DISTRICTS WOULD HAVE TO FOLLOW STATEWIDE PLAN WITH STRATEGY PREPARED BY THE STATE NOT DESIGNED YET.

TRACING OF INFECTED PERSONS STOPS SPREAD OF INFECTIONS TO PRESERVE REOPENING—THOUSANDS NEEDED—CUOMO—SHOULD BE STATE RESPONSIBILITY

DESCENDING CURVE FLAT, DESCENT MOMENTUM BEING WATCHED.

WPCNR MONDAY MORNING GOVERNOR CUOMO CORONAVIRUS BRIEFING.  By John F. Bailey. April 20, 2020 UPDATED WITH STATEWIDE CASE NUMBERS ADDITIONAL ANNOUNCEMENTS 3:30 PM EDT:

On the 51^st Day since the first case of coronavirus appeared in New Rochelle, and the 92^nd day since the first cases appeared in Seattle and Calornia, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo said the hospitalization rate continued steady, the downward slide of coronavirus new infections was flat.

“Anectdotically, ” the Governor said, ” hospitals said there were “less Covid-19 patients flooding emergency rooms easing the “Hellish” conditions seen  previously in downstate New York emergency rooms. “They are still at capacity or over capacity, but it’s better.”

The Governor, in the “Q.&A,” said the state was looking at upstate hospitals coronavirus infections and present capacity rates to see if the state could reopen them to elective surgeries again. The Governor said the state was going to have a plan Tuesday to determine if bans on elective surgery (“where hospitals make money on”) could be lifted depending on anticipation of coronavirus spread trends expected to roll up state.

In the “Q.&A.”, the Governor stated in response of schools saying they were planning on reopening, the Governor stated clearly, “They can’t reopen. They are closed.”  The Governor for the first time told the media, that schools would have to follow a plan designed by the state to follow standard protocols throughout the reopening process, regarding procedures the districts would have to follow.

On the spread of coronavirus, Governor Cuomo said the Downward Curve was “flat as of yesterday now the question is how long and how steep it is going down and nobody knows.  The question is how fast it will come to a low enough number to control it.”

He announced there were 478 deaths from coronavirus Sunday, compared to the 503 on Saturday.

The Governor repeated his call for federal aid to states based on the revenues the states have lost. He said New York had passed its 2020-2021 budget based on what losses the state suffered in revenue on a quarterly basis. Tomorrow the governor said that unless federal aid to New York State was forthcoming he planned cuts of 20% to schools, 20% to local Counties and 20% to hospitals (n the quarter coming)

He called for a 50% Bonus to workers on the front lines be included in any government pay package. He noted  41% of frontline workers were “people of color” : of police and fire, 45% of transit workers, 57% of building cleaning service workers , and 40% of healthcare workers were of color. who he said yesterday came to work despite of danger to themselves, showing their commit to public service and New Yorkers. He noted people of color are disproportionately represented in delivery and childcare services and one third of frontline workers are members of low-income households.

He announced plans for extensive testing in public housing to prevent spread of the disease through Ready Responders to bring health care and more COVID diagnostic testing to residents of public housing in New York City.

He emphasized again as he does every briefing the seriousness of the reopening concept: “This is cause and effect on steroids. What we do today will determine what happens tomorrow.”

He announced the FDA report on the drug being tested by 20 hospitals under a study funded by the federal government would be in tomorrow.

The governor said supplies of test materials was dependent on the federal government taking control of the supply shortages manufacturers are  experiencing in reagents.

The governor did not comment or raise the issue of defects in Chinese antibody tests reported today on the front page of The New York Times, or whether NY antibody tests were manufactured in New York, but then no reporter there asked those questions.

Asked in the Q. & A. on who should handle tracing back of discovered corona virus infected persons to persons who may have had contact with infected persons should be the responsibility of New York State. “The government is like  a painter with a roller,” the governor analogized, “You need a painter with a brush to get the corners.”  Meaning, WPCNR theorizes, the state governments know the makeup and areas, and neighborhoods of their state much more knowledgeably and can hire persons who can canvas them.

The governor said the success of a NY Reopening depended on “Tracing.” He said that the New Rochelle outbreak was stopped from spreading by the state finding out who the infected individual visited (a synagogue gathering), and they traced all who had been in contact with him. “That’s how we stopped it.” The governor pointed out that number tracers who need to be hired to trace new COVID-19 persons discovered after any reopening is not determined yet. Tracing had to be in place to avoid a rapid increase of the coronavirus from newly infected persons when any reopening begins.

Yesterday, the members of the 7 State Governors Task force to coordinate planning reopening issues had been selected. That plan is expected either today or shortly according to the schedule of the group.

The Governor confirmed 4,726 additional cases of novel coronavirus, bringing the statewide total to 247,512 confirmed cases in New York State. Of the 247,512 total individuals who tested positive for the virus, the geographic breakdown is as follows:

WITH COUNTIES IN THE NY METROPOLITAN AREA HIGHLIGHTED IN BOLD FACE

* ASTERISK NEAR NEW CASE COUNT indicates daily growth rate in new cases, computed by WPCNR and not be the state. SUFFOLK COUNTY CURRENTLY HAS THE HIGHEST DAILY NEW CASE RATE IN THE METROPOLITAN AREA, 2.9%. NEW YORK CITY HAS REDUCED THEIR DAILY GROWTH RATE TO 1.8%, LOWER THAN NASSAU AND SUFFOLK COUNTIES AND WELL BELOW THE 6% NEW YORK CITY WAS GROWING NEW CASES ONE WEEK AGO. :

County	Total Positive	New Positive
Albany	687	5
Allegany	30	0
Broome	199	7
Cattaraugus	34	0
Cayuga	36	0
Chautauqua	25	0
Chemung	73	0
Chenango	78	0
Clinton	51	2
Columbia	111	4
Cortland	25	0
Delaware	49	0
Dutchess	2,284	44 (PLUS 2%)*
Erie	2,109	39
Essex	20	2
Franklin	13	0
Fulton	27	0
Genesee	119	2
Greene	86	1
Hamilton	3	0
Herkimer	49	0
Jefferson	54	0
Lewis	9	1
Livingston	39	0
Madison	106	0
Monroe	1,054	22
Montgomery	35	0
Nassau	30,677	664 (PLUS 2.2%)
Niagara	255	9
NYC	136,806	2,370 (PLUS 1.8%)
Oneida	279	4
Onondaga	509	11
Ontario	71	1
Orange	6,482	103 PLUS 1.6%
Orleans	46	0
Oswego	48	1
Otsego	49	1
Putnam	599	7 (PLUS 1.2%)
Rensselaer	177	4
Rockland	9,457	93 (PLUS 1%)
Saratoga	254	3
Schenectady	269	1
Schoharie	20	0
Schuyler	7	1
Seneca	18	0
St. Lawrence	110	5
Steuben	167	0
Suffolk	27,662	774 (PLUS 2.9%)
Sullivan	544	7 (PLUS 1.3%)
Tioga	37	2
Tompkins	119	2
Ulster	877	23 (PLUS 2.7%)
Warren	101	5
Washington	65	2
Wayne	50	0
Westchester	24,306	503 (PLUS 1.7%)
Wyoming	36	0
Yates	10	1

###

WPCNR SUNDAY GOVERNOR ANDREW CUOMO BRIEFING REPORT. By John F. Bailey. April 19, 2020:

“ We are past the high point, we are now on the descent. The maximum inflo (of new corona virus hospitalizations) is less than what it is. The net intubations is down,” was the good news Governor Andrew M. Cuomo reported to day in Manhasset, Long Island where he was visiting the Northwell Health complex in Nassau County to give his daily report on the coronavirus battle.

“But this, (he pointed to the new hospitalizations rate) is a reality check, 1,300 people yesterday tested positive. A lot of people, but less than the overall curve of new cases (2,000 a day average previously). 507 persons died yesterday. 400 persons with the disease were put on intubations (ventilators).”

He congratulated health care workers across the state, and the 85,000 medical personnel who have volunteered to aid New York health care professionsals to care for the thousands with coronavirus.

He saluted the vital forces: police, fire, transit workers, EMS professionals who came to work to serve and help in a massive effort to help the sick, all risking their lives by going to the diseased and the suffering. The governor said he would be forever grateful for their sacrifice and courage and dedication to public service, most of whom are immigrants.

The Governor announced the New York State-developed antibody test for coronavirus antibodies presence in persons has been approved by the Federal Drug Administration.

He said beginning tomorrow New York Labs across the state would begin random testing across New York State to determine the possible scope of coronavirus spread in the population they will administer the anti-body test to  at random.

In the “Q. & A” the governor said the goal of antibody testing statewide was to random-AB test 2,000 NY state persons a day, 14,000 a week to reach 500,000 in a month, 1.5 Million in 3 months and “hope to increase that number to a random sampling of the population (6%).

“This (percentage of who had coronavirus) will give us the first effective number of how many already have had the corona virus,” the governor said.

He said the state has 9 million workers in a 19 Million population, and the percentage of anti-body positives would show the state an idea of how many persons could be carrying the virus producing anti bodies but not hospitalized to ascertain the risk of reopening.

The Governor did not explain what percentage might be considered positive to reopen the state, or too high to risk a reopen, because the antibody test has not been done before.

He called on representatives in the state not to play politics. He called on the federal government to in the next recovery bill (that congress in Washington is working on) to include $500 Billion in funding for state governments, so the states can fund what they fund in states.

In New York, Mr. Cuomo said if the government did not deliver adequate compensation to NY, or none, he would have to cut 50% of state education aid in New York and cut Hospital aid, which he said “how ludicrous that would be” in view of the health workers’ “tremendous” medical achievement in turning back the march of the coronavirus better than any official prognosticators said they could.

He praised President Trump’s tweet statement that “the federal government is with you(the states) all the way”.  

“That’s teamwork,” Governor Cuomo said.

The Governor also said he had a discussion with the head of the CDC Center for Desease Control who assured him the need for reagents for every state and (presumably for NY’s 301 lab companies) was being addressed.

Governor Cuomo also praised President Trump’s briefing last night on the state of increasing testing, and what the federal government was doing.

He said that now is only halftime. The residents of the NY cannot think it is over, because, he said “the beast is not dead. It is still out there ready to send the hospitalization rate up again.”

He said he got that people were having problems with cabin fever. He encouraged politicians not to politicize the issue based on the complaints of their constiutents.

He suggested, “Blame me.”

The news conference “Q. & A.” protocol is in its third day of Cuomo Conference Rules. They are not allowed to shout questions all at once after every Cuomo answer. The Governor picks each reporter in turn who asks a question. This has stripped away the raucous pandomonium of every time reporter trying to yell louder than anyone else. It is a lesson in how news conferences should be conducted. It eliminates the groaning, shouting of the press remuda so you can hear the question since no reporter is miked. It is Cuomo calming.

The Governor confirmed 6,054 additional cases of novel coronavirus, bringing the statewide total to 242,786 confirmed cases in New York State. Of the 242,786 total individuals who tested positive for the virus, the geographic breakdown is as follows (Metro areas of interest are in BOLDFACE:

County	Total Positive	New Positive
Albany	682	34
Allegany	30	0
Broome	192	6
Cattaraugus	34	0
Cayuga	36	0
Chautauqua	25	0
Chemung	73	1
Chenango	78	1
Clinton	49	1
Columbia	107	2
Cortland	25	0
Delaware	49	0
Dutchess	2,240	39
Erie	2,070	73
Essex	18	2
Franklin	13	0
Fulton	27	0
Genesee	117	30
Greene	85	3
Hamilton	3	0
Herkimer	49	2
Jefferson	54	4
Lewis	8	0
Livingston	39	2
Madison	106	1
Monroe	1,032	24
Montgomery	35	1
Nassau	30,013	833
Niagara	246	12
NYC	134,436	3,173
Oneida	275	7
Onondaga	498	6
Ontario	70	1
Orange	6,379	113
Orleans	46	5
Oswego	47	2
Otsego	48	1
Putnam	592	10
Rensselaer	173	9
Rockland	9,364	193
Saratoga	251	7
Schenectady	268	9
Schoharie	20	0
Schuyler	6	0
Seneca	18	0
St. Lawrence	105	7
Steuben	167	7
Suffolk	26,888	745
Sullivan	537	13
Tioga	35	3
Tompkins	117	0
Ulster	854	34
Warren	96	2
Washington	63	11
Wayne	50	1
Westchester	23,803	624
Wyoming	36	0
Yates	9	0