Summer Plans + Outbreak Outlook COVID HOSPITALIZATION REPORTING ENDNortheast editionbY Dr. Caitlin Rivers (Reprinted with permission)
Welcome to the Northeast edition of Outbreak Outlook! It is only available to paid subscribers. If you wish to become a paid subscriber and access region-specific information, please click the Subscribe now button below. Thanks for reading! -Caitlin Summer PlansImportant note: As summer approaches, the availability of data on respiratory diseases has dwindled. Influenza-like illness reporting is paused in most states, and Covid-19 hospitalization reporting has ended. This means there is less for me to cover in Outbreak Outlook. While I plan to continue to provide weekly updates for paid subscribers, I’m going to put them into a single report rather than the usual four regional reports for the summer months. Expect these updates to be less detailed until the fall when regular data collection and reporting resume. Respiratory DiseasesILIInfluenza and influenza-like illness is taking its summer break. Very few people are ending up at the doctor’s office or other outpatient clinical settings for influenza-like illness. New Jersey has been reporting rates noticeably higher than its neighbors for the past several weeks (3.09% compared to <1.75% in every other state in the region), but I expect it to catch up in the next several weeks. Spotlight on New York: Influenza-like illness at the state level is very low at 1.1%. There was a slight increase in the Western part of the state, but still below 2%. ILI in the city is quite a bit higher at 4%, but it is declining (slowly). Northeast Region: Change in ILI Activity
Percent of doctors visits for ILI symptoms
 Similarly, very few people are being hospitalized for influenza in the Northeast. Two Northeastern states contribute to the CDC’s sentinel surveillance: Connecticut and New York. Connecticut reported 0.4 influenza-related admissions per 100,000 population, and New York reported 0.7. COVID-19Hospitalization data looks a bit different this week because, as of May 1, hospitals are no longer required to report Covid-19 or influenza hospital admissions. While they can report voluntarily, this past week ~1% of hospitals in most states did so. As such, the data presented here are from the CDC’s sentinel surveillance network (RESP-NET) that pulls from a subset of hospitals in a sample of states and covers ~10% of the U.S. population. The quiet spell continues with Covid-19, with low levels in the wastewater, and few people ending up in the emergency department or hospitalized. Wastewater data show very low concentrations of Covid-19 in the Northeast. Covid-19 is sending very few people to the emergency department – Covid-19 accounts for <0.5% of ED visits across the Northeast (the CDC categorizes anything <1.5% as “minimal”). Hospitalizations for Covid-19 similarly remain quite low in the Northeast, with the two states that contribute to the CDC’s sentinel surveillance network (Connecticut and New York) reporting that they admitted between 1 and 2 cases to the hospital per 100,000 population
Wastewater concentration by region. Source: CDC Stomach BugsSome good news! There was a nice drop-off this past week in test positivity for norovirus in the Northeast, down to roughly 8% from around 10% the week before. Food recallsThe following foods are being recalled because they are contaminated. Please check your cupboards and throw out any of these items: New
Previously reported:
In other news
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TRAIN VS CAR AFTER CONGESTION PRICING BEGINS
TRAIN $49 CAR: $79
The METRO NORTH EXPRESS TO GRAND CENTRAL, 10:37 A.M. arrives. Our engineer was a woman and she rattled off the stations on the line to come with the nostalgic rat-a-tat delivery of conductors of old, crackling “next stop Hartsdale, Scarsdale, Crestwood change to Bronx and South, 1-2-5 and Graaaaand Central” This excitement in her voice thrilled me with the drama of a train, and she eased her No. 6 gently to stops and on the glide into 111 year old Grand Central she babied the big train into Track 105 to a whisper stop. NO squeak. Positively flawless train engineering. Breathtaking.
The Number 6 (BMT) Subway, roaring in. (MTA photo)
WPCNR TRAFFICA. News & Comment By John F. Bailey May 13, 2024:
Brenda Starr and I took in a matinee Saturday with friends from Long Island and learned just how much congestion pricing would cost us vs taking the train into The Greatest City in the World would cost us, as well as the environmental experience.
The bottom line: paying the $15 congestion tax scheduled to start July 1, at whatever entry we choose to enter Manhattan Central Business District by our car would cost us $79 for a Saturday trip while taking the train from White Plains on a Saturday would cost just $49, a $30 saving.
Here is our cost for two going in by train Saturday from White Plains to Grand Central and subway to Bleaker Street:
Parking White Plains Station Parking Facility: $9.75
Round Trip to Grand Central Weekend (2 Persons): $26
BMT SUBWAY N0.6 TRAIN 2 PERSONS TO BLEECKER & BACK: $13.00
Total : $48.75
Cost to Drive from White Plains to Bleaker Street and Parking
CONGESTION TOLL: $15.00
SPUYTEN DUYVIL BRIDGE: $4.00
GARAGE PARKING: $50.00
GAS (35 MILES) $10.00
TOTAL CAR: $79.00
The train trip saves you $30 over driving your once the Congestion Pricing starts.
42ND STREET OLD BMT TILES OF THE PAST–LOOK FOR THEM.
BLEECKER STREET STATION TILES SPIFFED UP SO OLD NEW YORK BRAND NEW
It saves you the aggravation and danger of the Hutchinson River Parkway, Cross County Parkway and Henry Hudson Parkway, Spuyten Duyvil Bridge onto the West Side Highway and stress of New York traffic.
The railroad is a clean and scenic ride and treats you to the scenic whisk of an express into Manhattan. You then take the subway uptown or downtown for 3.00 a person with the convenience of credit card tap on the turnstile, followed by the high energy rumble and roar of the greatest subway in the world enabled New York to grow. The cars are cleaner, ride swift, and the antique and nostalgic subway stations regale you with tile designs, explicit signs to look at.
The subways are not good if you are disabled. Hard to find elevators. Entrances from the street level for your return uptown or downtown are stairwells.
And you emerge from the subway into the chock-a-block dazzle of the New York modern with the New York classic architecture. From tenements to majestic exterior designs of century old buildings whose architectural features set your heart soaring with their beauty and whimsy.
Nothing I have ridden on thrills me more than the New York City “Subway In a Hurry!” It takes you new worlds! Better than a roller coaster.
Congestion Pricing will be recorded by gantry at whatever entry we choose – exits off the West Side Highway beginning at 60th Street will all have overhead gantries to electronically record E-Z Pass equipped cars, trucks, and vehicles subject to the toll departing the West Side highway at 59th Street. The 59th Street Bridge, Manhattan Bridge, and Williamsburg Bridge, Lincoln and Holland Tunnels and Brooklyn Battery Tunnel are subject to tolls. Previously the bridges were free.
This MTA website explains who pays, and discount plans here:
https://congestionreliefzone.mta.info/tolling
Photograph of the Day: The Mother’s Day Rose to all Moms Everywhere especially Mine
FIRST ROSEBUD OF THE SPRING ON MOTHER’S DAY WEEKEND
The Azalias Tough Loving Like Mom
s
Mom: The Azalea
Like Mom they are always there always.
An azalea like mom is always with you.
No matter what the cold bitter days,
The happy joyous days the melancholy Dismays.
The Azalea like Mom conquers and lasts.
Endures personal disappointments.
Rejoices in smiles and hugs in your achievements
Mom The Azalea always comes back in Spring’s presence.
She blooms in cheer brightening life’s drear.
She withers in endless rains but as flowers fade
Her summer’s green cheer grooms recalls summer shade
As fall days shorten and leaves fall in colorful cascade.
As child turns to adult and drifts away from Mom The Azalea
Building life of the unknown, the unexpected, the joyous day
The crushing losses, the proud triumphs, the mistakes along way,
Mom The Azalea in winter green and loving Mother’s Day softens what be May
The Azalea resplendent in sun and rain this time of year
Reminds you of your mom, the clean-up-your-room Mom.
The fashion mom always enduring unfortunte fashion whims
The always-accepting-coping-solution mom ready with the elizir.
Sweeping through your life even through her life’s essence
No longer manifests, Mom, like The Azalea is omnipresent
There in bloom lifting life’s gloom, her wise advice echoing
Calming your mind anxiety, with you like God to rely in deciding.
From a mother’s first sight of you being born to your grief
When her presence departed but now is your companion still
A voice of past and present in future with you with steadfast belief
In you, your promise, ability, courage dispensing wisdom and will.
As I write this about my mother, from her cross “Johnny Bailey!”
Or my wife’s mother’s, “Oh dear God, Janet” when Janet misbehaved
Their wisdoms, homilies, and dedication to their children who are old
Is forever there to draw new courage, new wisdom untold.
Mothers are always remembered even when we are unable to go to
The Old Kittle House for a Mother’s Luncheon today in that old white table cloth dining room
Overlooking the immense green on a sunny day.
With Dad in white shirt and tie, children in suits and dresses
This stanza does not rhyme because The Mom The Azalea
Influences, helps, always she loves us.
Thanks Mom. You were my first teacher. My first love. I so admired you
Never knew how much until now.
You’re not gone. You are not a memory. You are a presence in my life always