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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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.

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WPCNR COUNTY CLARION-LEDGER. From the Westchester County Department of Communications. April 5, 2020 UPdated with Video (above):

George Latimer, the Westchester County Executive announced the death rate of coronavirus patients in the county is declining at about 20 deaths a day, bringing the total to 1,101 deaths due to COVID-19 in the county, and that contagious cases had dropped to 5,700, 50% less than a month ago.

He also announced the county was going to test for antibodies in first responders at the newly opened Westchester County Center facility. He announced he would expand testing into nursing homes, assisted living facilities and other facilities of group residences. He said he intended to keep parks open and emphasized Westchester residents had to social distance and wear masks, and observed there was to his observation more compliance with masking rules in parks he went to this weekend.

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WPCNR MONDAY GOVERNOR ANDREW CUOMO UPDATE. By John F. Bailey. May 4, 2020: UPDATED WITH LATEST CORONAVIRUS CASES BY COUNTY, 7:15 PM EDT:

With the New York State New Hospitalizations Rate descending by 200 persons in two days to 700 Sunday, Governor Cuomo announced May 15 when the New York Pause (now in effect) expires, after that date New York Regions could reopen provided the had opening plans that met 10 State Required conditions.

If there is a reversal in coronavirus decline, and numbers go up but average down over a three-day moving average, it looks like the state should not have trouble meeting the 14-day of downward trend required by the Center for Contagious Diseases. The governor went into specifics behind the CCD standard for reopening.

In a news release just in from the Governor’s Office at 3:20 P.M., the CCD standards were summarized with their unique new details:

• New Infections: Based on guidelines from the CDC, regions must have at least 14 days of decline in total net hospitalizations and deaths on a 3-day rolling average. In regions with few COVID cases, the region cannot exceed 15 net new total hospitalizations or 5 new deaths on a 3-day rolling average. In order to monitor the potential spread of infection in a region, a region must have fewer than two new COVID patients admitted per 100,000 residents per day.
• Health Care Capacity: Every region must have the health care capacity to handle a potential surge in cases. Regions must have at least 30 percent total hospital and ICU beds available. This is coupled with the new requirement that hospitals have at least 90 days of personal protective equipment stockpiled.
• Diagnostic Testing Capacity: Each region must have the capacity to conduct 30 diagnostic tests for every 1,000 residents per month. The state is rapidly expanding capacity statewide to help all regions meet this threshold.
• Contact Tracing Capacity: Regions must have a baseline of 30 contact tracers for every 100,000 residents, and additional tracers based on the projected number of cases in the region. The state is currently building an army of contact tracers with Mayor Bloomberg to meet the needs of each region statewide.“

Governor Cuomo outlined the specifics of which businesses would open first, and laid out the 10 standards regions had to have businesses and organizations to comply with before opening any region.

He noted there were two weeks to May 15, for regions to get their plans to reopen to the standards to be considered for reopening.

The Governor warned that any region reopening that exceeded the 1.1 Outbreak Indicator (1 person positive infect 1.1 persons with the coronavirus) would have to shutdown the reopening and go back to a Pause.

He emphasized during the “Q. & A.” with reporters that wearing a mask was compulsory because the state is in a State of Emergency and that towns, cities and counties should enforce no-maskers with sanctions and penalties.

Finally, the Governor confirmed 2,538 additional cases of novel coronavirus, bringing the statewide total to 318,953 confirmed cases in New York State. Of the 318,953 total individuals who tested positive for the virus, the geographic breakdown is as follows:(WITH WESTCHESTER, NYC, PUTNAM, DUTCHESS, ULSTER, NASSAU, SUFFOLK NUMBERS IN BOLD FACE:

County	Total Positive	New Positive
Albany	1,287	29
Allegany	35	0
Broome	334	7
Cattaraugus	53	0
Cayuga	51	0
Chautauqua	37	1
Chemung	126	1
Chenango	100	1
Clinton	68	2
Columbia	213	4
Cortland	28	0
Delaware	62	1
Dutchess	3,131	45
Erie	3,802	92
Essex	29	0
Franklin	16	1
Fulton	84	2
Genesee	159	4
Greene	154	3
Hamilton	3	0
Herkimer	63	1
Jefferson	63	1
Lewis	9	0
Livingston	85	2
Madison	217	66
Monroe	1595	29
Montgomery	56	0
Nassau	36,965	185
Niagara	493	19
NYC	175,651	1,320
Oneida	550	61
Onondaga	971	19
Ontario	96	1
Orange	9,015	48
Orleans	97	0
Oswego	67	1
Otsego	67	0
Putnam	1,026	13
Rensselaer	337	15
Rockland	12,095	70
Saratoga	367	4
Schenectady	535	8
Schoharie	45	0
Schuyler	7	0
Seneca	45	0
St. Lawrence	178	1
Steuben	219	1
Suffolk	35,077	222
Sullivan	976	25
Tioga	90	0
Tompkins	129	0
Ulster	1,354	13
Warren	192	4
Washington	188	2
Wayne	76	1
Westchester	30,097	213
Wyoming	69	0
Yates	19	0

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WPCNR SUNDAY GOVERNOR ANDREW M. CUOMO CORONAVIRUS BRIEF. From the Governor’s Office. May 3, 2020:

Regional Supply Chains Will Help Realize Better Pricing, Delivery and Reliability of PPE and Medical Equipment for States. AGGREGATEE SUPPLYIES BY 7 STATE NEEDS

New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf, Delaware Governor John Carney, Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo and Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker today announced a joint multi-state agreement to develop a regional supply chain for personal protective equipment, other medical equipment and testing.

While the states will continue to partner with the federal government during this global and national public health crisis, they will also work together to identify the entire region’s needs for these products, aggregate demand among the states, reduce costs and stabilize the supply chain.

The states will also coordinate policies regarding the inventory of PPE each state’s health care infrastructure should have to be prepared for a possible second wave of COVID-19. The states will also coordinate policies on what supplies local governments should have on hand for their First Responders, and if any requirements regarding PPE for the non-for-profit and private sector are needed.

The states will then seek to identify suppliers within the country, region or state who can scale to meet the demand of the entire region over the next three months. The goal of this approach is to decrease the potential for disruptions in the supply chain for PPE and medical equipment, including sanitizer and ventilators, and testing, and promote regional economic development.

In addition, the states are discussing how to collectively explore emerging technologies on an ongoing basis to take advantage of the potential associated with alternative methods of production for existing products and innovation that would lead to more effective and/or less expensive alternatives. For example, 3D Printers may represent an attractive alternative to manufacturing certain personal protective equipment and medical products.

“The COVID-19 pandemic created a mad scramble for medical equipment across the entire nation – there was competition among states, private entities and the federal government and we were driving up the prices of these critical resources,” Governor Cuomo said. “As a state and as a nation we can’t go through that again. We’re going to form a regional state purchasing consortium with our seven northeast partner states to increase our market power when we’re buying supplies and help us actually get the equipment at a better price. I want to thank our neighboring states for their ongoing support, generosity and regional coordination on these important efforts.”

Governor Murphy said, “Our states should never be in a position where we are actively competing against each other for life-saving resources. By working together across the region, we can obtain critical supplies as we begin the process to restart our economies, while also saving money for our taxpayers. This concept is at the heart of the regional approach we’ve established.”

Governor Lamont said, “With global supply chains continuing to experience a major disruption due to the pandemic, combining the efforts of our states into a regional purchasing initiative will help our states obtain needed PPE and other medical equipment without competing against each other. I’ve long been advocating for the federal government to get involved because pitting all 50 states against each other to compete for these supplies has never made any sense. Partnering with our neighbors helps make our purchasing power stronger and more dependable.”

Governor Wolf said, “By working together we can combine our strengths to build the capacities we all need. We can exploit our market size to encourage producers to make what we need, we can exploit our financial strength to give that encouragement added weight, and we can exploit the great research institutions and the brainpower in our region to increase our chances of success. I look forward to working with my fellow governors—and my neighbors-to build a strong regional supply chain.”

Governor Carney said, “We need a consistent approach for moving our states out of this crisis, and that includes ensuring a sufficient supply of PPE and tests. I’m thankful for this coordination with my fellow Governors in the region. We’ll be better positioned to continue tackling this crisis working together with the states around us.”

Governor Raimondo said, “Our healthcare workers should never have to worry if we have enough PPE to keep them safe. Over the past two months, we’ve been scouring the earth for supplies and have worked hard to meet the demand on the frontlines. We know that, in order to safely reopen the economy, we need a long-term supply of PPE for all critical infrastructure workers. I look forward to continuing to collaborate with states across the region in order to build and maintain a steady, reliable and affordable supply of PPE.”

Governor Baker said, “Massachusetts looks forward to working with other states to identify more options for PPE procurements for our health care workers and public safety personnel.”

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WPCNR ALBANY ROUNDS. From the Governor’s Press Office. (Edit in BOLD FACE) 6 PM EDT May 1, 2020:

The White Plains City School District and every School District Budget in the state, will now for the first time in memory not depend on turnout at the polls. Every voter will get a ballot to send in.

In an effort to keep New Yorkers safe during the COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today issued an executive order delaying school board elections and budget votes statewide until June 9, 2020.

The school board elections and budget votes will all be conducted by mail and all qualified voters will be sent an absentee ballot with return postage paid. The Executive Order also delays local special district and village elections until September 15, 2020.