Another 330 New Yorkers died of coronavirus yesterday, governor Andrew Cuomo announced during his daily briefing on the state’s response to the pandemic.
Tuesday’s daily death toll was almost identical to Monday’s, meaning the rate of fatalities in the state is remaining high, even though it has come down significantly from a few weeks ago.
Cuomo noted overall coronavirus hospitalizations once again dropped slightly, but the number of new hospitalizations was up slightly from Monday, a disconcerting sign as the state looks ahead to reopening.
The governor announced the state has conducted more than 2,000 antibody tests on first responders so far, which showed 17.1% of New York fire department and EMT workers and 10.5% of New York police officers tested positive.
New York governor Andrew Cuomo said the state would administer coronavirus tests to 1,000 transportation workers. Cuomo said he has also directed the MTA to develop a plan to disinfect every subway car every night to limit the spread of the virus. The governor railed against allowing those who are homeless to sleep in subway cars, warning that could cause transmission of the virus.
“To let homeless people stay on the trains with no mask, no equipment — you’re not helping the homeless,” Cuomo said. (Editor’s Note, TJV has been reporting repeatedly that the homeless on the trains are a major spreader of COVID-19)
The governor unveiled a collage of masks after sharply criticizing Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell’s comments last week suggesting states should declare bankruptcy rather than receive additional federal funding. “Politicians, try to be half as good as the American people,” Cuomo said as he stood beside the collage. (SIDE NOTE: on Twitter after the State posted a picture of the mask collage, people commented why those masks are not being distributed, the questions were not directly answered)
The governor also suggested Republicans were trying to direct government funds to big businesses instead of average Americans as the country suffers deep economic hardship. (Editor’s Note: one party does not control every decision made with the relief money, Cuomo sounded very political, something he has repeatedly railed against) Cuomo spent around 10 minutes attacking Republicans, then unveiled the mask collage.
Editor’s note: Cuomo disappointingly used his briefing to attack the GOP, instead of informing the public in a non partisan fashion, that we have all become accustomed to. Also of note, another windfall of bailout money is already planned that will address the needs Cuomo hammers on about.
Ironically after blaming Republicans for favoring big business and reciting reliable Democratic talking points about the opposition Cuomo stated” “it’s extraordinarily dangerous” to bring politics into the country’s response to coronavirus.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., son of Robert and nephew of John F. Kennedy, said that the National Institute for Allergic and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), Dr. Fauci’s agency, will collect 50% of all royalties from a potential coronavirus vaccine.
The Gates Foundation invests in Dr. Fauci’s NIAID as part of its Decade of Vaccines program which aims to introduce a Global Vaccine Action Plan., as per Irish Central
He recently appeared on far right wing conservative podcast hosted by Gateway Pundit, RFK Jr. is a traditional liberal and life time environmentalist
The four major vaccine manufacturers in the US are Pfizer, Merck, GlaxoSmithKline, and Sanofi, and if one of those four companies successfully develops a Coronavirus vaccine, Fauci and the NIAID stand to collect half of the royalties, according to Kennedy Jr.
Kennedy Jr said that Dr. Fauci owns a patent for a specific type of vaccine that packages a virus in a protein sheet.
Several media outlets have “debunked” his claims. It is up to you to decide the validity of RFK’s claims.
RFK JR, is well known for his controversial viewpoints, but has been consistent his entire career
Recently The Jewish Voice ran a story about 2 doctors in California, who disagree with the quarantines , who stated that EMS is over-counting COVID-19 deaths and in detail described their data and the science of immunity. The doctor’s videos on youtube went totally viral, with over 6 million people watching them
These are medical doctors, who held a press conference, big tech, does not believe you deserve to hear their studies and experiences.
The censorship being perpetrated by You Tube is out of control. They no longer act like a platform, they are officially publishers, that decide what you can see and not see. YouTube should be forced to declare themselves PUBLISHERS, which would hold them accountable for everything they PUBLISH. You Tube wants it both ways, they want to claim they are a platform to avoid any legal responsibility from the user content and at the same time, want to select what you are allowed to see. You can’t have it both ways.
Fox News host Tucker Carlson reported on this topic last night. and discusses censorship and the power of big tech. He does a wonderful job. Watch below:
Supporters of Rabbi Chaim Mertz, who reportedly died from the coronavirus, gathered Tuesday evening to mourn the passing of the religious leader, flouting the social distancing guidelines put forth by both state and city municipalities.
A social media figure posted the images to twitter, resulting in Mayor de Blasio responding
Tipster says this is the Williamsburg funeral today of Rabbi Chaim Mertz who died from COVID-19 pic.twitter.com/wsTvCrlzpb
Deblasio shot out two tweets, first he stated “Something absolutely unacceptable happened in Williamsburg tonite: a large funeral gathering in the middle of this pandemic. When I heard, I went there myself to ensure the crowd was dispersed. And what I saw WILL NOT be tolerated so long as we are fighting the Coronavirus”
The second tweet drew blowback: ” My message to the Jewish community, and all communities, is this simple: the time for warnings has passed. I have instructed the NYPD to proceed immediately to summons or even arrest those who gather in large groups. This is about stopping this disease and saving lives. Period.”
The internet has responded to de Blasio’s threats and he set off anger and condemnation from all sides.
The ADL responded:
Hey @NYCMayor, there are 1mil+ Jewish people in #NYC. The few who don’t social distance should be called out — but generalizing against the whole population is outrageous especially when so many are scapegoating Jews. This erodes the very unity our city needs now more than ever. https://t.co/jcYO9QQred
Mr. Mayor, your words are unacceptable. To condemn our entire community over one group of people is something you would not do to any other ethnic group, and I know you long enough to know that you know this. https://t.co/tkKQrc0bXA
— Kalman Yeger ונשמרתם מאד לנפשותיכם (@KalmanYeger) April 29, 2020
He received criticism from his fellow left wing travelers
Really? Are we gonna call out blacks next? @NYCMayor needs to chill. There is enough anti-semitism and xenophobia and racism already being stoked up by the fear this virus has brought. Shameful for a progressive mayor to add to it. https://t.co/ZzOuEiaIq7
You lowlife cretinous bobblehead. There’s only one community you would address this way. And it’s the one that just went through a pogrom on your watch, as you let it happen.
The Jewish people will survive your term in office, despite your best efforts. Am Yisrael chai. https://t.co/mcOcjnWdFf
Going after Jewish people doesn’t erase your failure to order supplies until a week into March or failure to help nursing homes transfer coronavirus patients to Javits or Comfort.
You’re an awful human being. And for the record I was ahead of the curve on it. Also, my sister and her family just moved out of what was once the greatest city in the world. Mazel tov. (Thats Jew talk.) pic.twitter.com/o7XLR7YBSc
The CDC released new priorities for coronavirus testing including tests for asymptomatic individuals in high-risk settings. Photo Credit: AP
By: Zeke Miller, Jill Colvin & Jonathan LeMire
The White House released new guidelines aimed at answering criticism that America’s coronavirus testing has been too slow, and President Trump tried to pivot toward a focus on “reopening” the nation.
Still, there were doubts from public health experts that the White House’s new testing targets were sufficient.
Monday’s developments were meant to fill critical gaps in White House plans to begin easing restrictions, ramping up testing for the virus while shifting the president’s focus toward recovery from the economic collapse caused by the outbreak. The administration unveiled a “blueprint” for states to scale up their testing in the coming week — a tacit admission, despite public statements to the contrary, that testing capacity and availability over the past two months have been lacking.
The new testing targets would ensure states had enough COVID-19 tests available to sample at least 2.6% of their populations each month — a figure already met by a majority of states. Areas that have been harder hit by the virus would be able to test at double that rate, or higher, the White House said.
The testing issue has bedeviled the administration for months. Trump told reporters on March 6 during a visit to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta that “anybody that wants a test can get a test,” but the reality has proved to be vastly different.
CVS CEO Larry Merlo listens during a meeting with President Donald Trump about coronavirus testing, in the Cabinet Room of the White House, Monday, April 27, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
The initial COVID-19 test developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was contaminated, and early kits operated only on platforms able to perform a small number of tests per day. While the rate of testing increased as tests developed for higher-capacity platforms, they were still limited by shortages of supplies, from nasal swabs to the reagents used to process the samples.
Administration officials maintained Monday that the limiting factor now is actually the availability of samples from people who have been tested — either because guidelines on who could be tested are too stringent or because there are not enough health workers able to take nasal swab samples from them.
The CDC moved to address one of those concerns Monday, expanding the list of people to be prioritized for virus testing to include those who show no symptoms but are in high-risk settings like nursing homes. And Trump met with leaders of businesses including CVS, Walmart and Kroger, who said they were working to expand access to tests across the country.
“Testing is not going to be a problem at all,” Trump said later in the Rose Garden.
However, many of the administration’s past pledges and goals on testing have not been met.
Jeremy Konyndyk, a disaster preparedness expert who helped lead the Obama administration response to Ebola, said the administration’s testing plans are well short of what is needed.
Researchers at Harvard have estimated the country needs to be testing a minimum of 500,000 people per day, and possibly many more. Konyndyk said the aim should be 2 million to 3 million per day. Trump said the current total, up sharply in recent days, is over 200,000 per day.
Konyndyk said: “Over the past month, we’ve doubled or if you want to be really generous tripled the testing capacity in this country. We need to take where we are now and expand it tenfold.”
The testing blueprint for states provides details missing from the administration’s guidelines for them to return to normal operations, released more than a week ago. It includes a focus on surveillance testing as well as “rapid response” programs to isolate those who test positive and identify those with whom they had come in contact. The administration aims to have the market “flooded” with tests for the fall, when COVID-19 is expected to recur alongside the seasonal flu.
Trump and administration medical experts outlined the plan on a call with governors Monday.
Trump has sought to regain his footing after weeks of criticism and detours created in part by his press briefings.
Days after he set off a firestorm by publicly musing that scientists should explore the injection of toxic disinfectants as a potential virus cure, Trump said he found little use for his daily task force briefings, where he has time and again clashed with medical experts and reporters. Trump’s aides had been trying to move the president onto more familiar and, they hope, safer, ground: talking up the economy in more tightly controlled settings.
Republican Party polling shows Trump’s path to a second term depends on the public’s perception of how quickly the economy rebounds from the state-by-state shutdowns meant to slow the spread of the virus.
On Monday, the White House initially announced there would be a Trump briefing, but canceled it as Trump’s greatest asset in the reelection campaign — his ability to dominate headlines with freewheeling performances — was increasingly seen as a liability.
But hours later, Trump held court in the Rose Garden. He said he hoped that virus deaths would end up no more than 60,000 to 70,000, slightly revising upward his public estimate of recent days as the U.S. toll neared 56,000 on nearly 1 million cases. Still, he claimed a victory given dire, tenfold-higher predictions if the U.S. hadn’t adopted restrictive social distancing measures.
Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar and President Donald Trump listen during a meeting with business leaders on coronavirus testing, in the Cabinet Room of the White House, Monday, April 27, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Meanwhile, the CDC was beginning to release more detailed guidelines on reopening schools, restaurants and other establishments. Draft guidelines include a long list of recommendations for organizations as they begin to reopen, such as closing break rooms at offices, spacing desks six feet apart at schools and using disposable plates and menus at restaurants.
Some states have started to ease closure orders, and Trump is expected to spend coming days highlighting his administration’s efforts to help businesses and employees.
Still, medical experts warn that the virus will continue to haunt the country until a vaccine is developed. They say the risk of a severe second wave is high if social distancing measures are relaxed too quickly or if testing and contact tracing schemes aren’t developed.
In other Coronavirus news, President Trump says states should “seriously consider” reopening their public schools before the end of the academic year, even though dozens already have said it would be unsafe for students to return until the summer or fall.
Trump made the comments Monday in a call with governors discussing how to reopen their economies, among other topics.
“Some of you might start thinking about school openings, because a lot of people are wanting to have the school openings. It’s not a big subject, young children have done very well in this disaster that we’ve all gone through,” he said. While addressing Vice President Mike Pence, Trump added that it’s something “they can seriously consider, and maybe get going on.”
Later in the call, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said his state’s schools are not reopening fully before summer but hope to open some buildings for special education meetings and for small groups of students in vocational programs.
“We’re hoping at least for those last few weeks that kids who are taking classes that need the physical equipment, they can come in in smaller groups,” Polis said. “But we want to reconfigure it with better social distancing for next school year.”
Trump made the comments as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention worked to finalize guidelines for reopening the economy. For schools, that included putting students’ desks 6 feet (1.8 meters) apart, serving meals in the classroom instead of the cafeteria and closing playgrounds.
Reopening schools is considered key to getting the economy moving again. Without a safe place for kids, many parents would have difficulty returning to work.
But some education officials say opening schools quickly would bring major risk and little reward, especially since the end of the school year is approaching.
“Are they going to reopen for two weeks? Three weeks?” said Daniel Domenech, executive director of the American Association of School Administrators, “It’s not the right thing to do. Particularly when we’re involving the safety and welfare of our students.”
At a White House news conference Monday, Trump acknowledged that there’s little time left in the school year, even as he said many states are thinking about getting kids back into the classroom.
“I think you’ll see a lot of schools open up even if it’s for a very short period of time,” he said. “In terms of what this vicious virus goes after, young people seem to do very well. Young people seem to do very well so I know that there are some governors that aren’t necessarily ready to open up states, but they may be ready to open up the school systems.”
Schools across the nation have closed during the coronavirus pandemic, and dozens of states have ordered their schools to remain closed through the rest of this academic year. Only a few have publicly discussed earlier openings, including Montana, which says school districts can resume classroom instruction on May 7.
In many districts, officials have said it’s still unclear whether students will be able to return to the classroom by next fall. And even if they do, many are planning for social distancing measures that could make school look radically different from the past.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said on CNN that it’s “way too early” to reopen his city’s schools, adding that “you don’t get a lot of credit for moving too quickly to reopen.”
Responding to Trump’s comments, one of the nation’s largest teachers unions said there’s still much work to be done before schools can open safely. The American Federation of Teachers said there needs to be better testing and tracking for the virus, and schools must have access to personal protective equipment.
“It’s good the president understands that reopening society and the economy hinges on successfully and safely reopening schools,” said Randi Weingarten, the union’s president. “But the question should not be whether we open schools, but how we do it safely. COVID-19 is a terrible virus that has already taken too many lives, and, in the absence of a vaccine, there is no magic wand or magic elixir as the president would have us believe.”
If schools reopen too quickly and end up spreading the coronavirus, they could be held legally liable, said Francisco Negrón, chief legal officer for the National School Boards Association. And while coronavirus cases have been mild among U.S. children, many schools have students with medical conditions that could make them vulnerable, he said.
“The foremost concern for schools is going to be safety of their students and safety of their employees,” Negrón said.
In this April 2, 2020 file photo, "For Sale By Owner" and "Closed Due to Virus" signs are displayed in the window of a store in Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich. The second round of loan applications for the government's small business relief program has been slowed by computer issues at the Small Business Administration. Lenders complained Monday, April 27, that they couldn't get their applications into the SBA system known as ETran that processes and approves loans. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)
Edited by: JV Staff
The second round of loan applications for the government’s small business relief program has been slowed by computer issues at the Small Business Administration, according to an AP report.
Lenders complained Monday that they couldn’t get their applications into the SBA system known as ETran that processes and approves loans. The agency said it notified lenders Sunday that it was limiting the number of applications any lender could submit at once.
The AP reported that the SBA began accepting applications at 10:30 a.m. Eastern time for $310 billion in funding. The program’s initial $349 billion was exhausted in less than two weeks after more than 1.7 million loans were approved. That first round was also slowed by computer issues at the SBA.
Banks had thousands of applications ready to go Monday. Richard Hunt, president of the trade group Consumer Bankers Association, said the SBA’s announcement on application limits was too last-minute — bankers had already sent large batches of applications to the agency, not knowing that a new procedure was being planned.
“We learned at the 11th hour that SBA had changed its process. They could have told us well ahead of time,” Hunt said. He said the agency’s computers weren’t able to accept even the reduced number of applications per hour that it had planned.
CNBC reported that the government’s Paycheck Protection Program sparked outrage after its initial $350 billion allotment quickly ran out and it was revealed that big public companies secured loans while hundreds of thousands of small businesses seeking relatively tiny amounts were left in limbo.
Last week, the Small Business Administration attempted to close that loophole, saying that big public companies “with substantial market value and access to capital markets” aren’t eligible and that firms that already tapped the fund had two weeks to return the PPP money, according to the CNBC report.
Since then, companies including Ruth’s Hospitality Group and sandwich chain Potbelly have followed Shack Shack in returning their PPP funds.
CNBC reported that more than 245 public companies applied for at least $905 million from the government program that was billed as for small businesses without access to other sources of capital, according to Washington D.C.-based data analytics firm FactSquared.
That includes $126.4 million for three public companies affiliated with Texas hotelier Monty Bennett. One of those firms, Ashford Hospitality Trust, applied for $76 million in 117 separate loans, the most by a single company, according to regulatory filings.
AP reported that the ETran system normally handles under 60,000 applications in a year and wasn’t built to handle the volume of applications it has been receiving this month.
The fresh round of funding was expected to go quickly because banks already had thousands of applications in hand and were accepting more as they waited for Congress to approve the additional money. If the new funds do get depleted, it’s feared that many companies will be shut out unless lawmakers are willing to approve a third round.
The loans offer forgiveness for the money owners spend on workers’ pay. Millions of workers lost their jobs as companies such as restaurants, retailers, gyms and entertainment venues were forced to close to curb the spread of the virus.
New York City schools will implement a new grading system for the remainder of the coronavirus-disrupted school year, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Tuesday. Photo Credit: PBS.org
By: AP
New York City schools will implement a new grading system for the remainder of the coronavirus-disrupted school year, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Tuesday.
Elementary school students will be graded “meeting the standards” or “needing improvement” while high school students will have a pass-fail grading option, de Blasio said.
Acknowledging that some students have struggled since schools were shuttered March 16, de Blasio said students who need help to catch up will be given academic support through the summer and into next fall.
“We have to recognize that some kids are having a tougher time because of this crisis, emotionally and academically,” de Blasio said.
Students in grades K-5 will be graded “meets standards” or “needing improvement,” de Blasio said, while middle school students will be graded “meets standards,” “needs improvement” or “course in progress.”
High schools will use traditional letter grades, but a student who receives a passing grade in a class can take a “pass” grade that won’t affect their grade point average, de Blasio said. High school students who haven’t mastered the coursework will get a “course in progress” grade.
De Blasio announced on April 11 that the schools would remain shuttered through the rest of the school year but Cuomo said the decision whether to reopen schools was up to him. Cuomo has not indicated that he wants schools in the city to reopen before the end of the academic year in late June.
De Blasio initially resisted closing school buildings and moving instruction online in part because many of the system’s 1.1 million students lacked internet access. He said that 247,000 iPads will be in hands of students who requested them by Thursday.
Educators around the nation have struggled with how to grade students after the coronavirus pandemic closed schools.
Officials in the Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation’s second-largest after New York City, announced earlier this month that no student would get an F and no one’s grade would be worse than what it was on March 13, the last day of on-campus classes. Philadelphia school administrators were looking for a way to give students credit for completing schoolwork without penalizing children for things that are beyond their control.
In other coronavirus news, jets from Navy’s Blue Angels and the Air Force’s Thunderbirds flew over New York City in a tribute to the medical personnel, first responders and other essential workers involved in fighting the pandemic.
The planes from the two demonstration squadrons flew in formation over New York and Newark beginning at noon. The formation was set to fly over Trenton, New Jersey, and Philadelphia.
“We are incredibly honored to have the opportunity to salute those working on the frontline of the COVID-19 response, we are in awe of your strength and resilience,” said Navy Cmdr. Brian Kesselring, U.S. Navy Blue Angels commanding officer and flight leader. “Thank you to all of those in essential industries keeping our nation moving forward. We will get through this. We are all in this together.”
NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio discussed opening up 40 miles of protected streets for pedestrian socially-distant walkways, a larger scaled version of a program that failed a month ago. Photo Credit: AP
By: KCP Staff
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio discussed opening up 40 miles of protected streets for pedestrian socially-distant walkways, a larger scaled version of a program that failed a month ago.
De Blasio had tried a very similar program, dubbed the open streets pilot, in which the city closed off one main thoroughfare in four boroughs for people to take socially distant walks in from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The streets included in this program were Park Ave between 28th and 34th in Manhattan, Bushwick Ave from Johnson to Flushing in Brooklyn, 34th Ave from 73rd St to 80th St in Queens and Grand Concourse between E. Burnside and 184th in the Bronx.
Now, it looks like the mayor is ready to try again, explaining in his daily press briefing yesterday that this program will open up 40 miles of open streets sooner, and a 100 miles in total later on.
Despite the program’s failure the first time around — it was scrapped after only a couple weeks because not enough people were utilizing the open streets for walks and it was using up a lot of police officers — de Blasio is determined to bring it back full force and better.
“The way we will do it is we are going to focus first on streets in and around our parks. [We are] very concerned about the streets around parks. Often times we are seeing that immediate area getting very crowded,” de Blasio said. “Those streets adjacent to parks are an obvious opportunity to open up more space. We are going to work together to figure out how we are going to do that.”
“We’re telling people, still you need to shelter in place and yes, of course keep your social distancing. But we knew in the warm weather there would be some impulse to get out more,” the mayor told New York 1.
“The notion of opening up more space around the parks, opening up those streets made a lot of sense logistically and in terms of safety … It’s not to open up a space and ignore it. It is to open up a space and have enforcement to make sure that people handle it properly, but there is more space for everyone.”
The plan is to open up streets that are next to parks, since that is where the city has observed crowding occurring. The program will also allow for some sidewalk expansions, where barricades will be placed partway into the street to almost create a wider sidewalk.
Chirlane McCray hasn’t been elected anything by anybody – and yet, as Mayor Bill de Blasio’s wife, she has wielded lots of power. And now, she has been tapped to head up the city’s economic restart plan.
“We have to get people back to work,” de Blasio told reporters yesterday. “I want to get people back to work whether they work on Wall Street or in a bodega.”
McCray will be co-chairing the task force on racial equity and inclusion aided by deputy mayor Phil Thompson.
“This is based on ideas that they have both developed in the last few days to address the immediate disparities, but also to make sure that we address these disparities, more thoroughly in our recovery plans ahead,” de Blasio said, according to Crain’s New York Business.
ADMINISTRATION TASKFORCE ON RACIAL INCLUSION AND EQUITY
The COVID-19 pandemic has further exposed the fatal consequences of racial disparities in America. This taskforce will be comprised of officials from across the Administration to engage hardest-hit communities, monitor response and recovery efforts in those neighborhoods, identify unique needs associated with Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprises (MWBE) and community health care providers, and work with City officials and agencies to narrow long-standing racial and economic disparities. This taskforce will focus both on the immediate needs of these communities and shape a longer term strategy to close the gaps that have been exacerbated during this crisis. The task force will be led by First Lady Chirlane McCray and Deputy Mayor J. Phillip Thompson.
FAIR RECOVERY TASKFORCE
Civic leaders from diverse backgrounds will help the City formulate a broader post-crisis recovery effort that builds a stronger, safer, and fairer economy and society. In the beginning of June, the task force will put forward a recovery road map that will inform the City’s recovery efforts. They will continue to support the City over the course of the recovery and adjust the roadmap to meet new challenges.
Members of the Fair Recovery Task Force include:
Patrick Gaspard, President, Open Society Foundation
Jennifer Jones Austin, CEO, Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies
Richard Ravitch, Former Lieutenant Governor of New York State
Carl Weisbrod, Senior Advisor, HR&A Advisors
Henry Garrido, Executive Director, DC37
Maria Torres Springer, Vice President for US Programs, Ford Foundation
Liz Neumark, CEO, Great Performances
Fred Wilson, Partner, Union Square Ventures
“This crisis is not only about a virus; it’s about the fallout from hundreds of thousands of our neighbors losing their jobs and struggling to provide for their families. It’s about the outsized devastation communities of color are facing across the country. I am not only calling on New Yorkers from all walks of life to help us get our city back on its feet – I am calling on them to join me in the fight ahead for a fair recovery, ” said de Blasio.
The City’s decisions in the coming weeks will be determined by the health indicators tracked every day. The City will evaluate gradual changes to restrictions as daily health metrics indicate that the virus has reached the low-level transmission phase. Last week, the Mayor announced the City’s plan to expand testing, tracing and isolation to continue to beat back COVID-19. To successfully re-open and rebuild a fairer City, the Mayor is establishing a series of advisory groups.
Re-opening the city will be a gradual process, and different strategies informed by on the ground experience will be used to do so as seamlessly as possible. The City will form a series of Sector Advisory Councils that will guide the Administration’s efforts to reopen the economy and city life. The Councils will serve as critical links to disseminate information about re-opening and provide guidance to shape the City’s response to the pandemic.
These councils will start in the first week of May and meet weekly thereafter. Sector Advisory Councils will include:
In this Friday, April 10, 2020, photo, a sign informs visitors that the boardwalk is closed during the coronavirus pandemic at Seaside Heights, N.J. For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, or death. (Ted Shaffrey/AP Photo)
By: Edward Norassian
New Jersey isn’t ready to reopen yet, according to Governor Phil Murphy – but it is getting closer.
The state posted an additional 3,457 new positive results, for a total of 105,523, the governor’s office said. Cases have risen by less than 10% for 19 straight days; in mid-March, the daily increase was 20% to 82%. Ventilator use continued to trend down, with 1,442 in use as of April 24.
“New Jersey, which trails only New York in terms of the U.S. states hardest-hit by Covid-19, has now lost a “staggering” 5,863 residents, Murphy said, more than those lost in World War I, the Korean War and the Vietnam War combined. He urged residents to adhere to stay-at-home orders, saying it’s working to slow the spread,” said Crain’s New York Business.
“We cannot let a beautiful spring day like this allow us to slip in any way,” Murphy said Saturday at a press briefing. “The 5,863 deaths must be our inspiration so we do not lose another 5,863.”
“As we look at the curve of new COVID-19 cases — again, these are positive tests – we see continued flattening,” Murphy said in a statement. “We cannot ease up one bit on our social distancing. Again, let’s leave this on here for a second and remind everybody.” The curve of infections is “undeniably flattening and that’s in the face of a lot more testing.”
He was quick to point out that with 105,523 cases “we don’t know what the denominator is, we don’t know how many people are infected in this but we guarantee you, that’s not the number. We know that’s the number of positive tests, but what exactly that denominator is, people around the world literally are trying to wargame that. We need to see more progress and more slowing before we can begin implementing any effort to get ourselves on the road to the new normal that awaits our state on the other side of this pandemic.”
Progress has been slow, but it is happening, the governor pointed out. “For the 24 hours preceding 10:00 p.m. last night, our hospitals reported 686 discharges. Notably, if you look at the three-day average, we still see discharges exceeding admittances, and this is another important measure for hospital readiness and the availability of beds who need them. Again, those curves are all going largely in the right direction. We need them to go down aggressively, and that is what we will need to see, and God willing, will see sooner than later.”
Founded in 1921, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey builds, operates, and maintains many of the most important transportation and trade infrastructure assets in the country. Photo Credit: Wikipedia.com
By: Joelle Lefkowitz
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has no plans to shut down because of the pandemic – and that commitment is being mirrored by other port authorities around the world.
“Whether by air, land, rail or sea,” the local port authority declares, “we are dedicated to getting critical healthcare workers, first responders, and other essential workers where they need to be to address those most impacted by the COVID-19 crisis and to keep the supply chains open to ensure goods and supplies keep flowing throughout the region.”
Its counterparts around the globe feel the same way.
At least 20 port authorities across Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North America signed joined together in signing a declaration in which they promise to remain in operation in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.
Begun by officials in Singapore, the declaration calls for ports “to boost collaboration so that operations are undisturbed, according to a statement on April 24. Members of the Port Authorities Roundtable that signed the declaration include Singapore, Abu Dhabi, Rotterdam, Tokyo and Los Angeles,” according to Crain’s New York Business.
Restrictions on crews “are among the unprecedented challenges wrought by the virus, which has ground major economies to a halt. At risk is the flow of goods such as food, medicine and energy via commercial shipping, which accounts for about 80% of global trade,” Crain’s added.
The port authorities committed to working together to ensure merchant ships can still berth at ports to carry out cargo operations and keep the global supply chain going, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) said on Friday.
MPA chief executive Quah Ley Hoon said the industry is facing new challenges in this unprecedented period, making the joint pact all the more important. “Shipping is chartering into many unknowns and new challenges (during the coronavirus pandemic). Port authorities have to take enhanced precautions for their ports and on ships, as well as manage the stress faced by our seafarers and maritime personnel.”
She added, “We came out of the session gaining more valuable knowledge to ensure that necessities and essential medical supplies continue to be transported seamlessly across the world and into our respective countries.”
The NY-NJ authority is coordinating with federal, state and local partners, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and other emergency and public health agencies to address public health and safety concerns.
Founded in 1921, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey builds, operates, and maintains many of the most important transportation and trade infrastructure assets in the country. The agency’s network of aviation, ground, rail, and seaport facilities is among the busiest in the country, supports more than 550,000 regional jobs, and generates more than $23 billion in annual wages and $80 billion in annual economic activity.
The wait staff at New York City’s popular dining spot Nello are saying that they have not received tips that had been left for them before the pandemic hit. Photo Credit: Pinterest
By: Randy Klagsmeier
Several laid-off waiters claim they are still waiting – not tables, but for their bosses to pay them.
In fact, the wait staff at New York City’s popular dining spot Nello are saying that they have not received tips that had been left for them before the pandemic hit.
The charge by the restaurant’s bartenders and waiters is that owner Thomas Makkos has stiffed them out of three paychecks. Together, they reportedly total in as much as $4,000 in pooled tips.
A trio of employees told the New York Post that “they’ve called Makkos’ office repeatedly. They said he told them the checks had been mailed out but nobody has received them. Nello let most of its 30 workers go March 19 when Gov. Andrew Cuomo told restaurants to close. It has been operating with a skeletal staff of four since then with only delivery and takeout available. The laid-off employees’ last checks were issued to them on Feb. 19.”
The claims stand in stark contrast to the upper-than-upscale reputation of the eatery, which boasts: “Where art, fashion, politics, entertainment, aristocracy, and finance converge to create a world of urbane sophistication, genuine leisure and cosmopolitan chic on Madison Avenue. Our casual elegance, northern Italian cuisine, and accommodating staff have brought famed clientele to our private dining room for over 25 years.”
“I am just really taken aback that someone with his money would treat us like this in the middle of the pandemic,” Anthony Vacca, 32, a Nello bartender, told the Post in an interview. “Some people have families to feed and they need that money.” A colleague added, “I’m running out of money and my anxiety is through the roof. The brazenness of [Makkos] not responding to us and not paying us is bizarre. There are other employees I know who are down to their last $100.”
The claims are, unfortunately, not unique, as restaurants around the country – in fact, around the globe – also suffer. “Local governments have shut down or severely limited restaurant operations in many cities and states,” reported foodandwine.com. “Even for those businesses whose operations aren’t limited by legislation, or weren’t several days ago, financial realities have dictated complete closures or shifts to takeout and delivery.”
Nor does the gradual reopening of various states necessarily mean a restaurant resurgence. “When restaurants are allowed to reopen, it won’t be the dining scene Charlotte is used to. There will be capacity limits, spaced-out tables, and masks covering the smiles of servers and hostesses. Some restaurants may stick to takeout for a while. Others may close altogether,” reported www.charlotteagenda.com.
Over 50% of New York City workers take public transportation to work (AP image)
By: Jared Evan
The NYC subway system has become a literal nightmare as ridership has drastically dropped because of the massive lay offs and job loss due to coronavirus pandemic; the trains are now heavily populated with dirty and sometimes deranged homeless people, spreading disease and destroying the subways seconds after they are cleaned.
As of press close to 90 MTS workers have died from the virus and thousands upon thousands have become infected.
‘I feel like the city is using the subway system as containment for the homeless. You have to assume that a lot of them have it. If they close the system what would they do with all these possibly infected homeless people?”, Canella Gomez, a train operator who is out on leave and is a union activist told the NY Post.
“The horror begins when it comes out to the public,” he said. “The minute it pulls into the station, you got the 100 homeless hanging out there. This is where they live. They get on there. They lay down. They use the bathroom. They vomit. Anything you can imagine gets done”, Gomez stated.
“It’s not fair. It’s not fair on people that have to go to work. It’s not fair on the homeless people,” she said. “Something has to be done. This mayor we have is just completely out of touch with reality as to what’s going on.”, a 56-year-old commuter told the Post.
“They’re coughing. They are peeing. They are defecating in the cars. We do not know if they have COVID-19. They’re up in our faces every single day as well as the other people who are taking the trains to and from work every day”, MTA conductor Adrienne Blocker told the NY Post.
Blocker told The Post that as soon as trains are cleaned, they immediately get dirty.
Sarah Feinberg, the MTA’s interim transit president, said this week that the agency was also fed up and that the city needs to do more. She claims de Blasio has been unresponsive to her requests for more assistance.
Recently an MIT economics professor and physician Jeffrey Harris, pointed to a parallel between high ridership “and the rapid, exponential surge in infections” in the first two weeks of March — when the subways were still packed with up to 5 million riders per day — as well as between turnstile entries and virus hotspots. He concluded the trains were a major disseminator of the virus.
It is without a shadow of a doubt that during February and March as the pandemic was starting to show its ugly face in NYC, the trains rapidly spread the disease. The large transportation system is unique to NYC
A quick look at the numbers, nationwide only 5% of Americans relay on public transportation to get to work, in NYC 39% use the subway, 23% drive alone, 11% take the bus, 9% walk to work, 7% travel by commuter rail, 4% carpool, 1.6% use a taxi, 1.1% ride their bicycle to work, and 0.4% travel by ferry, according to MTA numbers. That is a big difference between NYC and the rest of the country, over half of city residents take public transportation.
If something is not done about the homeless taking over the subway system, it could be deadly to open up the city again. Many homeless are dangerously psychotic and do not go to the doctor when they feel sick, they are spreading COVID-19, they have been the entire time & the leadership of NYC has refused to address the situation. While de Blasio is setting another city agency up which will be looking into race and coronavirus, maybe the homeless situation on the subways should be a priority instead. Eventually close to half the city is going to be on these coronavirus infested trains once more and will have to ride with potentially infected homeless.
On Sunday morning Governor Cuomo updated New Yorkers the latest goings on with the coronavirus pandemic.
The governor cautioned again and again that the state was a long way from a full recovery, warning against a possible second-wave of the virus and noting on Sunday that 367 people had been killed by the virus in the last 24 hours, bringing the death toll to 16,966 people in the state. This is the lowest number in many weeks
In laying out scenarios for a broader reopening of other businesses, Mr. Cuomo suggested that data would be evaluated in two-week increments, and that companies wanting to restart work would be individually evaluated to determine “how essential a service does that business provide and how risky is that business”, the NY Times reported.
With certain precautions, after May 15 construction projects and manufacturing jobs may be able to resume in certain regions, said Cuomo during an Albany press briefing, referring to the date through which his statewide shutdown order is currently in effect.
State officials are keeping an eye on “three basic dials” to determine exactly how much of the state’s economy to bring back online — and when to do it, Cuomo said.
Phase one of reopening will involve construction and manufacturing activities, and within construction and manufacturing, those businesses that have a low risk,” said Cuomo.
The state would then take two weeks to monitor for any flare-ups of the disease, before potentially moving on to the next step, Cuomo said.
“Phase two would then be more a business-by-business analysis,” said the governor.
That calculus would include looks at “how essential a service does that business provide, and how risky is that business,” said Cuomo.
Individual businesses cleared for reopening would have to thoughtfully consider what precautions they can take towards preventing a coronavirus resurgence.
He laid a heavy onus on businesses to develop their own plans for reopening, including outfitting employees with personal protective equipment, enforcing social distancing between employees and customers and instituting testing in the workplace, the NY Times explained
Mr. Cuomo’s comments offered hope for some upstate regions, the outlook for the New York City area seemed much more perilous, with countless calculations and safeguards being considered. Retail, tourism and hospitality industries — the bedrock of the city’s economy — would be difficult to restart quickly and without great care, the governor said, as would transportation and schools, which he has said he wants coordinated with neighboring New Jersey and Connecticut.
“They have to think about how they’re going to reopen with this quote-unquote new normal,” he said. “What precautions are they going to take in the workplace, what safeguards are they going to put in place.”
“The big factor here is what people do,” he said. “It depends on what people do, how smart, how disciplined they are through this whole process.”
Gym-goers in New York who are being charged for memberships they can't use during coronavirus shutdowns are getting some relief. Photo Credit: New York Sports Club
By: Arthur Popowitz
Gym-goers in New York who are being charged for memberships they can’t use during coronavirus shutdowns are getting some relief.
The state attorney general says New York Sports Clubs and Lucille Roberts have both agreed to freeze memberships.
The gyms are also going to offer credits to members who have been charged while the fitness centers have been closed due to the pandemic
The NY Post reported: The gym’s parent company, Town Sports International, has agreed to refund and credit members for charges they incurred since NYSC and Lucille Roberts clubs were ordered by the state to close March 16 in an effort to fight the spread of COVID-19, New York Attorney General Letitia James said.
On April 24, Attorney General Letitia James announced she has secured commitments from the parent company of NYSC and Lucille Roberts to institute a number of policy changes that will provide economic relief to members who were charged dues over the last six weeks.
“This is putting money back in the pockets of New Yorkers who were being illegally charged for unusable gym memberships,” James said. “The commitments we secured from New York Sports Clubs and Lucille Roberts will ensure that members will not be left paying the bill and lifting the weight for NYSC’s financial straits as long as the gyms remain closed, Bronx Times reported.
“We will continue to monitor the company to ensure they comply with every commitment made,” James added.
In March, James led a multi-state coalition, which also included the attorneys general of Maryland, Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia, in opening an investigation into the billing practices of Town Sports International Holdings, Inc. (TSI), the parent company of New York Sports Clubs, Lucille Roberts, Philadelphia Sports Clubs and Washington Sports Clubs, among other health and fitness subsidiaries.
The agreement is as followed:
Freeze all New York Sports Clubs and Lucille Roberts memberships, effective as of April 8, at no cost to members.
Issue credits to members for dues and fees paid for cancellation or freezing of accounts after March 16, when New York’s executive order directing the closure of health clubs first went into effect.
Honor all cancellation requests submitted by April 30, without charging cancellation fees or requiring advance notice.
Contact all consumers who filed complaints with the Office of the Attorney General to resolve those individual complaints.
The NY Post reported: Members expressed outrage that the clubs continued charging dues and fees despite the closures. They were also outraged over difficulty contacting the clubs to cancel and place accounts on hold.
In fact, at least two lawsuits were filed against the club for mishandling member accounts during the pandemic closures.
During a time where small business are struggling to exist as the city’s tough but understandable, shelter in home orders, money still talks and NYC approved continued work on a controversial condo tower
The city’s Department of Buildings granted permission to the developers of the building at 200 Amsterdam Ave. to do “emergency work”, the NY Post reported.
On April 3, days after Cuomo’s directive to shut down nonessential job sites, there were 800 approved sites throughout the city, according to The City.
“To help slow the spread of COVID-19, the expert staff at the Department of Building have been hard at work implementing the Governor’s Executive Order to halt all nonessential construction in New York City,” said Andrew Rudansky, a spokesman for the DOB, adding after the ban last month the city shut down 35,000 construction sites citywide. “While the vast majority of construction sites are subject to this order, our diligent plan examiners are carefully reviewing and auditing every work application we receive to ensure that any needed essential work and necessary emergency work can still proceed during this shutdown.”
The NY Post reported: In February, a State Supreme Court judge ordered the developers — SJP Properties — to lop 20 stories off the nearly completed 52 story building after community groups fiercely opposed the project.
The NY Post previously reported: A State Supreme court judge ruled that the city must revoke the building permit for the nearly-completed, 55-story condo tower at 200 Amsterdam Ave. — and that its developers must remove a yet-determined number of floors because the structure exceeds zoning limits, according to the nonprofits behind the lawsuit.
“The directive to partially demolish the building is appropriate given the willingness of the developer to ignore every sign that their project was inappropriately scaled for the neighborhood and based on a radical and wildly inaccurate interpretation of the Zoning Resolution,” said Elizabeth Goldstein, president of the Municipal Art Society, one of two groups that brought the suit.
One must wonder if it’s the powerful nonprofits who sued to reduce the size of this building who pulled some strings to get it done, or the developers themselves. None the less, all kinds of business are about to vanish, people’s entire lives up in smoke thanks to coronavirus, yet the city is still working hard for developers and connected leftist nonprofits.
The NY Post pointed out: In the case of 200 Amsterdam Ave., the DOB recently approved emergency permits, citing safety concerns due to high force winds and damage to partially installed equipment and water infiltration, the spokesman told The Post.
