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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School Districts are now mailing out ballots for through-the-mail voting. There will be no in person voting. 

You will receive a ballot, plus 2 envelopes: one is the oath envelope and the other is a paid postage return envelope. 

To ensure your vote is counted and your voice is heard make sure you do the following: 

1. Fill out your ballot in pen or pencil by completely filling in the appropriate circles. 
2. After marking these circles and NOWHERE else, place your folded ballot in what is commonly referred to as the oath envelope. 
3. Once the ballot is sealed in the oath envelope – NOT the return envelope – sign and date the back of the oath envelope. 
4. After signing the oath envelope, place the oath envelope in the return envelope. 
5.  Be sure that you attempt to return the envelope in time for it to arrive at the School District Clerk Office by 5 p.m. on June 9th.

These elections are important to our Democracy and your voice matters. Thank you for engaging in your civic duty in spite of the pandemic.

(Editor’s Note: Thank you to Greenburgh Assemblyman Tom Abinanti for this instruction.)

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WPCNR FRIDAY GOVERNOR ANDREW M. CUOMO CORONAVIRUS BRIEFING. From the Governor’s Press Office. May 29, 2020:

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that New York City will enter Phase 1 of reopening on June 8 and that five other regions—Central New York, Finger Lakes, Mohawk Valley, North Country and Southern Tier—can enter Phase 2 of reopening today. Phase 2 allows office-based workers, real estate services, in-store retail shopping and some barbershop services to resume. Each industry is subject to specific state guidelines to maximize safety and social distancing. Business guidance for phase two of the state’s reopening plan is available here.

Governor Cuomo also announced the implementation of a new early warning dashboard that aggregates the state’s expansive data collection efforts for New Yorkers, government officials and experts to monitor and review how the virus is being contained on an ongoing basis. It tracks new infections and their severity, hospital capacity by region, and other metrics. The early warning system dashboard was developed in consultation with internationally-known experts who have been advising New York State. The early warning dashboard can be found here.

“Remember that reopening does not mean that we’re going back to the way things were,” Governor Cuomo said. “Life is not about going back. Nobody goes back. We go forward. And it’s going to be different. This is about reopening to a new normal — a safer normal. People will be wearing masks and people will be socially distanced — it’s a new way of interacting, which is what we have to do. Wear a mask, get tested and socially distance.”

Dr. Michael Osterholm, Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, said, “As New York State’s first 5 regions have been given the green light to begin to move from phase 1 to phase 2 it is absolutely critical that there is timely data to monitor new infections, hospitalizations, and hospital capacity. New York State’s new early warning dashboard does just that—it will help foster added transparency in the government’s efforts to protect New Yorkers and their families throughout the state.”

Dr. Samir Bhatt, Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Geostatistics, The Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Imperial College London, said, “It has been a privilege working alongside the New York team and seeing what they have accomplished in such a short time. We still live in an uncertain time, and policy must continue to be informed using as many strands of evidence as possible and this evidence should be there for everyone to see. This COVID dashboard transparently shows to all those living in New York what is happening in their region. As New York begins to move some regions from phase 1 to phase 2, these metrics provide a robust foundation for tracking the disease. First, we check if testing targets are being met. Next, we look at new infections: measured both by new cases and the test positivity ratio. We also look at case severity, which is measured by new hospitalizations. And finally, we monitor hospital capacity. We are carefully looking at these data for the five regions that are ready to move forward and want to see a consistent signal across all metrics. This dashboard gives us a crucial early warning system should the trends shift going forward.”

Dr. Eli Rosenberg, Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at UAlbany, said, “New York State’s new early warning dashboard will be a valuable tool for compiling the essential data we need to combat COVID-19 on all fronts. I’m also excited to see half of New York’s regions work towards reopening safely today as part of Phase 2, which will provide critical income and jobs for retail and real estate workers, among others, who’ve been sidelined by this crisis, as while we continue to closely monitor the indicators critical to maintaining the state’s public health.”

Michael LeVasseur, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Drexel University, said, “During a crisis, transparency is vital. This early warning dashboard is an important tool for policymakers, business owners, and individuals to make data-informed decisions about safety in their communities. It is important for people using this tool to understand that no single metric can determine how safe it is to resume normal activities. As testing increases, more cases will be identified, but the percent of positive tests may decrease. Hospitalization data, however, can tell us the burden of disease in our communities and tracking our hospital capacity provides us with information on our ability to manage future surges. I applaud your team’s efforts to provide these data to the public.”

Dr. Noam Ross, a disease modeler at the non-profit research group EcoHealth Alliance, who has been advising the governor’s coronavirus task force on data analysis, said, “When it comes to any public health emergency, we must follow the data to inform policy decisions, and this early warning dashboard reflects the numbers we must watch every day to understand what is going on in the State. It’s important that the public gets to see the data that drives decision making, and I commend New York State for making this information widely available.”

Finally, the Governor confirmed 1,551 additional cases of novel coronavirus, bringing the statewide total to 368,284 confirmed cases in New York State. Of the 368,284 total individuals who tested positive for the virus, the geographic breakdown is as follows:

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WPCNR REOPENER REPORT. From the New York State Department of Labor. May 27, 2020:

The April 2020 unemployment rate for the Hudson Valley Region is 14.2 percent. 

That is up from 4.0 percent in March 2020 and up  from 3.3 percent in April 2019.  In April 2020, there were 156,200 unemployed in the region, up from 45,600 in March 2020 and up from 37,100 in April 2019. 

Year-over-year in April 2020, labor force decreased by 37,900 or 3.3 percent, to 1,096,800. The region’s April 2020 unemployment rate of 14.2 percent is the highest (regardless of month) in the history of the current series (dating back to 1990).  

The Hudson Valley Region’s April 2020 unemployment rate at 14.2 percent is ranked third among the 10 Labor Market Regions in New York State, trailing only the Capital Region (12.9 percent), and the Southern Tier Region (13.9 percent).

• Capital Region 12.9 percent
• Southern Tier Region 13.9 percent
• Hudson  Valley Region 14.2 percent
• Mohawk Valley Region 14.5 percent
• New York City Region 14.6 percent
• Finger Lakes Region 14.9 percent
• North Country 15.3 percent
• Central New York 16.0 percent
• Long Island Region 16.0 percent
• Western New York Region 18.6 percent

In April 2020, the highest unemployment rate within the region (15.6 percent) was recorded in Orange County.

• Orange County15.6percent
• Ulster  County 14.6 percent
• Westchester County 14.1 percent
• Putnam County 14.1 percent
• Dutchess  County 14.1 percent
• Rockland  County 13.4 percent
• Sullivan County 13.1 percent

      Jobs data for May 2020 will be released on Thursday, June 18 and the labor force data will be released on Tuesday, June 23.