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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APPEALS CHIEF JUDGE JANET DIFIORE

“From the Westchester District Attorney’s Office to the Court of Appeals, Chief Judge Janet DiFiore has dedicated her career to the people of New York. Chief Judge DiFiore’s leadership of our state court system – especially during the unprecedented times of the COVID-19 pandemic – has been a critical asset. I thank Judge DiFiore for her years of service and look forward to reviewing the recommendations of the Commission on Judicial Nomination as we work to appoint new leadership to the Court.” — Governor Kathy Hochul. 1:30 PM EDT

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WPCNR ON THE CORNAVIRUS TRAIL. By John F. Bailey July 10, 2022.:

Saturday new new infections in Westchester County totaled 259 in Lab positive confirmed testings bring the county total to 2,327 for the week.

New cases surged the first three days of the week above last week’s first three days and continue the mid week patter of positives doubling by Wednesday and Thursday and Friday which has been consistent the last 5 weeks. This indicates persons’ weekend activities are causing them to get sick within 1 to 2 days after the weekend socializing activities,and testing themselves or going to a testing center and having a testing labconfirm their positiveness. We cannot know how fast they are getting infected but the midweek consistent surging in positives in the County would indicate that is the case.

New positives ran 332 new positives a day for the 7 days July 3 through 9. an infection rate of 11% of those tested. Average testing per day was 3,000 a day, very low historically. There 20,854 tests analyzed by state labs in Westchester County last week.

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 FIGURES UNDERESTIMATE WESTCHESTER COVID INFECTIONS NUMBERS BY 38,466, NEW INFECTIONS BY  500 A WEEK— UNDERESTIMATES PEOPLE AT RISK FOR COVID NEW INFECTIONS  BY THOUSANDS.  4^TH UP-INFECTION WEEK IN 5 WEEKS OF HIGHER POSITIVES FOR WESTCHESTER

WPCNR CORONAVIRUS TRAIL. By John F. Bailey. July 10, 2022:

If you knew how many persons lived in Westchester a year ago by the 2020 census, wouldn’t you assume the government and the state would adjust their  calculations about covid based on the current populations of Westchester and every other county  in the country?

They are not.

The first weekly report issued last week by the Center for Disease Control is using 2010 Census Data.

The CDC report was reported a month ago by the Governor’s office of New York as updating the CDC format and put out the first edition last week.

 Westchester’s population is reported as 965,991. According to the 2020 census figure released one year ago it is 1,004,457. That is a 38,466 more persons in Westchester County, than the CDC and the Covid Tracker of NY are using.

The implication of this is that the new infections, across the country are being  under-reported by millions. In Westchester County they are under reported in the number CDC of new infections a week, 158 per 100,000 population per week. Let’s take a look.

In the last six days, July 3 through Friday, July 6 with Saturday’s figures from the New York State Covid Tracker to come out today, Sunday, means Westchester  if we have the same number of infections we had last Saturday (July 2- 247)) will have 2,315 new covid infections, compared to 2077 last week June 25 to July 2. That will make the third consecutive week of covid increases and 4^th 300 a day week in the last 5.

According to the Center for Disease Control first new weekly report of July  Westchester County is infecting at the rate of 158 persons a week per 100,000 population every 7 days.  If you multiply that by 10.04 (Westchester’s new population as of last spring, 2021 was 1,004,457), you get 10.04 x 158 that estimates Westchester should have 1,586 new infections this week.  

We don’t.

The last six days show we already have 2,068.

We have been averaging over 2,000 a week, 300 a day. Four of the last 5 weeks.

This discrepancy indicates a lag in getting figures from the states to the CDC, or at least New York State.

When the New York State Covid Tracker debuted they used the former figures from 2010, because they were the only census available. But now we have had the new numbers for every county in New York (and nationwide), for 2 years.

When I figured vaccinations for New York State when they started last January, I used the new population figure, 1,004,457, to judge the gap between fully vaccinated persons with one dose, and persons not vaccinated.

The CDC, using the 965,991 figure, inadvertently probably, gives a false sense of safety. Take a look at their chart:

Why wouldn’t the CDC and the New York Covid Tracker update the population bases by county?

Why wouldn’t the CDC and the New York Covid Tracker update them to provide more accurate presentation vaccination figures based on the true population of the moment?

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EXCLUSIVE WITH THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF IRVINGTON SHAKESPEARE COMPANY ON THEIR OPENING NIGHT JULY 15 ON THE GREAT LAWN AT MERCY COLLEGE OVERLOOKING THE HUDSON.

INTERVIEWED BY WHITE PLAINS TV’S JOHN BAILEY.

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WPCNR COVID REPORT. From Dr. Katelyn Jetelina, of www.yourlocalepidiologist.coim. July 7, 2022: Driven by Omicron sub-variants, country-level hotspots are now peppered across the globe. Yesterday, the WHO reported cases are on the rise in 110 countries, causing overall global cases to increase by 30% over the past two weeks. Of course, these numbers and country-level comparisons are only as accurate as testing and reporting.(WHO)In Europe, BA.4/5 is driving a case surge. Hospitalizations in Portugal finally peaked and are well on their way down. Hospitalizations in other European countries continue to rise, though. In the U.K., it’s clear that hospitalizations rising are both with and for COVID19. The distribution seems to be stubbornly consistent since a switch during the first Omicron wave last winter, when hospitalizations for COVID19 took the lead. In India, all eyes are on a new variant: BA.2.75. After first being discovered at the end of May, it quickly took hold and now accounts for 25% of cases, with most samples reported from Maharashtra (Mumbai). There is sparse testing data in India but BA.2.75 appears to be outcompeting BA.5 and BA.2 (with a growth advantage of 17% thus far). This means it has the potential to cause a wave and is important to follow. BA.2.75 cases have been identified in other countries, like Australia, New Zealand, U.K., and Germany, but remain low at this time. BA.2.75 carries eight additional mutations on the spike protein compared to BA.2. There are two mutations in particular that are cause for concern: G446S and R493Q. G446S is at one of the most potent sites of escape from antibodies. As the Bloom Lab interestingly pointed out in the figure below, BA.2.75’s impact will be dependent on infection history. Among those with a previous BA.1 infection, the probability of immune escape at spot 446 (and thus infection) is lower than those with a previous BA.2 infection.(Bloom Lab Twitter)A few more thoughts on this sub-variant:Let’s be glad the mutation G446S isn’t on BA.5. If it was, this subvariant could make an even bigger impact. If BA.2.75 does take off, it will be co-circulating with BA.5, so keeping a close eye on recombinants will be important.This makes the fall booster conversation interesting. Last week, the FDA authorized a BA.4/5 vaccine formula. However, one could make the argument that the original BA.1 vaccine formula would be better with this BA.2.75 news. But, chasing variants is never going to work. Our goal should be broaden protection. An Omicron vaccine will do that, regardless of the sub-variant circulating.United StatesIn four short months, four Omicron sub-lineages have come and gone in the U.S. Currently, BA.4/5 made a fast entrance and now accounts for more than 70% of tests. Interestingly, BA.4 stopped (or substantially slowed) growth, so this is really now a story about BA.5. It’s not clear whether BA.5 will result in a wave in the U.S. given our BA.2.12.1 history that other countries did not experience. If we do get a BA.5 wave, it would start about now, so all eyes are on epidemiological trends.(CDC) The U.S. holds a steady state of ~100,000 reported cases per day. This equates to about 1M “true” cases per day, using back of the napkin math. (Editor’s Note: The first three days of this week Westchester County was reported by the New York Covid Tracker with 246 new infections Sunday, 259 Monday, and 252 Tuesday an average of 252 a day, heading into the days of the week when new infections increase dramatically. Last week Westchester experienced 1,168 new cases of covid on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, if that level continues the county will see another week of 2,000 plus infections..) (At the height of the first Omicron wave, we (USA) experienced ~3.9M true cases per day). The steady state is reflected in national wastewater with plateauing trends across every region.Regional wastewater trends, past 6 weeks Source: Biobot Analytics Interestingly, our national test positivity rate (TPR) continues to increase and is at a high rate of 17%. Editor’s Note Westchester’s Postive Rate now is 11-1/2 % positive on testings of just 2,000 persons a day the last 4 days, meaning if you tested more people you would get an untold number of positives out there passing the disease. Anecdotally, it feels like more and more people are testing positive, too.(CDC) The disagreeing patterns between cases/wastewater and TPR could mean that a wave is about to come (historically, TPR trends upwards first). Or it’s a reflection that cases are just a terrible measure of community transmission. Lack of testing, lack of reporting antigen tests, and biased testing (some groups are more likely to get tested than others) are creating really weird trends in metrics. This begs the question: How do we detect a wave at this point in the pandemic? Hospitalizations continue to creep up and, on average, 389 Americans are dying each day. Severe disease will continue to occur. As the Kaiser Family Foundation reported, in some states, 3 in 4 people are not up to date on their COVID-19 vaccines (this figure does not include the 4th dose). Also, as we just saw in Portugal, vulnerable groups like the elderly are at risk from high transmission, even if vaccinated. While incredibly tragic, hospitalizations and deaths do remain below any previous peaks, which is progress.(News nodes) Bottom line BA.5 is impacting countries across the globe. Its story in the U.S. is yet to be determined. It’s important to note, though, that we already have a very high, steady level of transmission. In addition, SARS-CoV-2 continues to mutate so quickly that we start talking about the next variant (BA.2.75) before the current wave peaked.