THE WORLD READS WHITE PLAINS CITIZENETREPORTER — 8,324,077 VISITS IN ONE YEAR | 2,905,611 VISITORS VISIT 8,324,077 TIMES 3 TIMES EVERY DAY IN ONE YEAR. HIGHEST ACTIVITY IN WPCNR HISTORY.White PlainsCitizeNetReporter lifted its worldwide visits from unique visitors to wpcnr.com to 8,324,077,a 1,306,419 increase in visits in one year from 7,017,658 visits to the site last year which covers White Plains and Westchester County. The 8,324,077 visits were made by 2,005,611 unique visitors who visited wpcnr an average of 3 visits a day. ON JULY 20- -2026 visitors have accessed wpcnr and made 3,072 visits an average of 1.6 visits. In the last week 33,495 individual vistors made 54,458 visits, averaging 1.6 visits. In the last month, 152,940 visitors recorded 229,338 visits (1.5 visits)

WHAT’S DOIN’ IN THE ARTS?

Posted on November 17, 2022 by John Bailey

MAN FOUND GUILTY OF MURDERING TARRYTOWN WOMAN IN 2018

Posted on November 17, 2022 by John Bailey

Westchester County District Attorney Miriam E. Rocah announced today that after a four-week trial, a jury found New York City resident Cynell Brown, 32, guilty of the 2018 murder of Tarrytown resident Jessica Wiltse.

The defendant was found guilty yesteray on November 16, 2022, of Murder in the Second Degree, Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree, Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Fourth Degree, and two counts of Tampering with Physical Evidence, all felonies. The defendant faces a sentence ranging from a minimum of 15 years to life to a maximum of 25 years to life in state prison when he is sentenced on January 12, 2023.

On February 27, 2018, at approximately 7:10 a.m., the defendant used a .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol to shoot 34-year-old Wiltse two times in the chest and arm in her home on White Plains Road in Tarrytown. The victim was transported to Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, where she was pronounced dead.

As detailed during the trial, police recovered the gun that the defendant used to murder Wiltse in a garbage can at a bus stop near the victim’s home as well as a suitcase near the garbage can that contained papers with the defendant’s name and phone number. Police also recovered a bag of cocaine that the defendant discarded from the window of a cab as he fled the scene. Additionally, police obtained surveillance video showing the defendant purchasing a number of grocery items the night before the murder that were later recovered from the victim’s home.

The defendant was apprehended by the Port Authority Police Department, with the assistance of the FBI’s Westchester Safe Streets Task Force, at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan on the evening of February 27, 2018. The multi-agency pursuit and investigation was conducted by the Tarrytown Police Department, with the assistance of the Greenburgh Police Department, the Greenburgh Drug and Alcohol Task Force, the Westchester County Department of Public Safety, the Irvington Police Department, the Ardsley Police Department, the Dobbs Ferry Police Department, the Sleepy Hollow Police Department, the FBI’s Westchester Safe Streets Task Force, the New York State Police, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Police Department, the Westchester County Department of Laboratories and Research, and the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office.

The case is before Judge George Fufidio in Westchester County Court, and is being prosecuted by Major Case Bureau Chief Nadine Nagler and Counsel to the Trials and Investigations Division John O’Rourke.

STATE OF AFFAIRS NOVEMBER 16,2022

Posted on November 16, 2022 by John Bailey

***BY DR. KATELYN JETELINA***. Your Local Epidemiologist. Reprinted with permission. November 16, 2022:

The respiratory illness storm ravages on. And it’s only November. Here is where we are with the “triple threat.”

RSV

Cases of RSV continue to skyrocket. Data shows we are testing a lot, though, as test positivity rates are not as high as in 2021. This is likely attributed to increased knowledge, which is good news. In addition, there are hints that RSV is peaking. With RSV, antigen test positivity rates usually peak before PCR, and that’s what we are seeing now. Cases may soon follow.

(Source: CDC)

Historically, the RSV season lasts 5 months. It will be interesting to see how the holidays impact RSV patterns, though. Typically RSV peaks in January, but because it has arrived so early, we are in new viral dynamic territory.

There’s no doubt that social networks will change next week due to Thanksgiving. For example, we will see family that we don’t typically see. This will open up new pathways for transmission, and RSV numbers may therefore continue to rise.

Influenza

Flu is right behind RSV and coming in hot; it’s earlier and steeper than previous pandemic and non-pandemic years.

(Source: CDC)

We certainly see regional variability of the flu. A number of states in the South and the Atlantic seaboard, for example, have the highest activity level color that CDC records—purple in the map below. (The first time CDC used a purple color was in Louisiana in 2019, when they added it to the scheme due to very high levels.) This is causing flu surveillance at Johns Hopkins, for example, to go off the charts as seen below.

(Source: CDC)

(Source: Andrew Pekosz)

There is good news from the Southern Hemisphere among countries that just concluded their flu season. Chile, for example, found the flu vaccine is a good match for the current strain. They are reporting a 49% efficacy rate. But only 28% of Americans are vaccinated against the flu. This is almost 10 percentage points lower than pre-pandemic rates, which is frustrating.

COVID-19

Interestingly, for the first time during the pandemic, there are more than 300 subvariants circulating, and not one is dominating globally.

This isn’t stopping the virus from causing waves, though.

SARS-CoV-2 is currently creating two global hotspots: Western Pacific and Southeast Asia. In South Korea, for example, we see an increase in cases and hospitalizations due to the variant soup (lots of lines of color in the figure below are increasing, as opposed to just one or two lines of color that we’ve historically seen).

(Source: Moritz Gerstung)

Other areas across the globe are starting to tick upward, including admissions in South Africa and Western Europe. Similarly, these upticks are not due to one variant but rather a mix of Omicron subvariants, waning immunity, weather, and behavior change.

(Source: Jean Fisch)

The real headscratcher is that the U.S. wastewater continues to plateau, but given previous patterns, a wave should have started by now as BQ.1 accounts for more than 50% of cases. A lot of eyes are on the West, too, as a new Omicron subvariant—BN.1— is growing.

Purple= Midwest; Pink= South; Orange=Northeast; Green= West. (Source: Biobot Analytics)

Given trends in Europe, it is still very likely that the U.S. will have a COVID-19 wave.

But, overall, this could be a good sign that we finally have an immunity wall that is challenging the movement of COVID-19, regardless of labs showing subvariants can partially escape immunity. We need to hold off on sweeping conclusions—like whether this pandemic is over— until this winter plays out.

Implications

The convergence of these diseases has three important implications:

Impact on hospital systems. The hospitals, and in particular pediatric hospitals and emergency departments, are hanging. by. a. thread. Every pre-pandemic winter, pediatric hospitals were overwhelmed. This year the unique combination of circumstances is creating terrible strain, which has many implications, including the quality of care for everyone. We need to fix this on a systematic level.
Risk of co-infections. Someone can be infected with two viruses at the same time. In fact, the first death from RSV and flu co-infection was reported in a child under 5 years old in California.
Lessons not learned? I had hoped we would have applied lessons from COVID-19 to other diseases, like masking, staying home while sick, and getting vaccinated. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like this is happening. After 2.5 years of a pandemic, the public (and leadership) is just in a different state of morale, and the willingness to take preventative steps seems to be lower.

Bottom line

“Normal” viruses are continuing to show their muscle, and the seasonal virus repertoire now includes COVID-19. We are very concerned going into winter, as this situation is already applying massive pressure to hospital systems. Time will tell how the next few months play out.

TRI-INFECTA RSV, FLU, COVID 19 SPREADING IN THE 5 NYC BOROUGHS. Babies VULNERABLE. Covid now assumes role of an expected disease after 9 months of refusing to protect ourselves

Posted on November 16, 2022 by John Bailey

WPCNR RSV, FLU COVID SURVEILLANCE . Figures from the NYS Covid Tracker and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Observations and Analysis by John F. Bailey. November 16, 2022:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced 2.8 million flu diagnoses (one third the city’s 8.8 million population) this fall in New York city. At Brooklyn Kings County Hospital doctors told Bronx News 12 that they are seeing cases of RSV and Covid-19.

Infections of covid in Nassau and Suffolk Counties contribute to the covid spread, running over 700 cases daily depending on lab-verified tests. on Friday in Nassau and Suffolk County, reported 793 new covid cases and on Monday, 757 new persons infected with covid. This is not a new development.

It’s been going on in Nassau and Suffolk all summer long. One month ago for example on October 15, Nassau and Suffolk had 782 infections. They have averaged approximately 600 new covid infections a day. The Nassau and Suffolk counties are New York State hot spots.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced yesterday there have been at least 2.8 million flu diagnoses this season. Doctors at Kings County Hospital tell Bronx News 12 that they’re seeing many cases of not only the flu, but RSV and COVID-19 as well. , particularly affecting babies, a new development.

The latest official pronouncement follows on Dr. Katelyn Jetelina’s observation last week in her column published weekly on WPCNR and on her website [email protected] where she makes the rounds of latest trends the last 24 hours. Last week Dr. Jetelina said RSV was spreading rapidly and again called what authorities should have been telling the people.

Babies are the primary targets of RSV.

“In pediatric patients, especially young babies, it does tend to primarily affect the lungs, and it can prevent the baby from breathing too well,” said Dr. Youssef at Kings County to Bronx News12. “So, what you want to look out for in those areas is poor feeding… some contractions in the lower spaces when breathing and any sign that you just feel they may need a little help taking some breaths.”

While there is no vaccine for RSV available to the public yet, preventative measures such as washing your hands and wearing a mask can help keep RSV at bay Dr. Youssef said.

Youssef said the hospital is preparing for another surge in covid cases this winter that could potentially be impacted by rising flu cases as well.

On Monday, Brooklyn reported 640 new covid cases. The Bronx 392, Manhattan 483. Queens 598 and Staten Island 99 covid cases. All five broughs Monday reported 2,212 lab-verifed cases of covid on a population of 8.8 million less than 0% of the city population

In Westchester County we are gulty too. The county reported 233 new cases of covid on 3,420 Lab-confirmed tests or 5.8%.

Westchester completed its 36th consecutive week as WPCNR reported Monday of over 1,000 infections of covid a week every week over the last 9 months.

This creeping terror of covid spread has entrenched the disease.

It is not as some would put it behind us and just something we could get. It is now an ever present danger, and it was not 9 months ago, when we were vaccinating and masking and social distancing.

In the spring we started opening up by decision of the legislature which took over the emergency powers of Governor Cuomo.

So far On Sunday, Westchester was confirmed to have 168 new covid cases by the State covid tracker.

Covid is not on the wane.

This has been a collective effort of downplaying the disease by all.

The disease does not stop. It has gained momentum by our failure to vaccinate fully, adopting reckless behavior because we want to, and lack of enforcement by leaders unwilling to risk unpopularity in an election year, and avoiding legislating any fines, warnings, and enforcement measures that would affect their popularity in an election year. The media have not reported the details of the covid continuing wave of infections.

Covid is now a regular disease that we’ve been getting in Westchester at 1,000 cases a week for 36 weeks, due to Westchester behavior the last 9 months.

Health officials in New York urge New Yorkers to receive their vaccinations for the flu and COVID-19.