White Plains CitizeNetReporter

WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. By John F. Bailey. December 2, 2020:

The White Plains City Schools will continue the combination of students attending class in their schools for part of the school week and learning remotely for another part of the week for the foreseeable future.

School unions and some parents last have asked the district to suspend in-school instruction for the 3-1/2 weeks of school in the month of December to learning remotely only (in homes) to control the spread of Covid infections during the holidays coming up.

The request is not being granted at this time.

Superintendent of Schools Joseph Ricca in a live address on the School District Facebook page , addressed the issue saying the present mix of “hybrid learning” would continue. He issued this statement to WPCNR:

The Board of Education and I remain grateful for the tremendous effort and dedication shown by all members of the WPCSD community throughout the pandemic. We are especially appreciative of the district’s Reopening Committee for the critical planning, preparation and guidance provided as we implemented our safe, smart and supported facility reopening in the fall of 2020.

We know that many in our community are understandably concerned with the recent increase of COVID-19 cases in our state and region. As a district, we remain committed to the health and safety protocols that have allowed our professionals to serve our students, in person, while addressing identified positive cases of COVID-19 and mitigating additional community spread.

We remain committed to protecting our community members and serving our children within our facilities for as long as we are able.

Should an adjustment to our in-person schedule become necessary, due to challenges associated with community spread, we are ready to act and pivot to remote learning as necessary. Still, we know that serving our students safely in our classrooms remains our daily goal.

Asked to comment on the New York State analysis of the school district rate of infections since the start of the school year in late September shown below, Dr. Ricca stated in an email to WPCNR today:

“I think that we are fortunate that we have been able to avoid pervasive spread of COVID-19 within the school facilities. We believe that this positive outcome is the direct result of the hard work of our educational community members to follow best practices throughout our school community.

We recognize that the virus is still very much a presence and we know that we will need to contend with it in the near-term.

However, we also know that adhering to best practices for health and safety goes a long way to reducing the potential spread of COVID-19 in our schools.

WPCNR WASHINGTON CONNECTED. From New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. December 1:

U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand will hold a video press conference AT 2 PM TODAY to urge Congress to invest $6 billion in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) in the Fiscal Year 2021 Agriculture Appropriations bill.

Nationwide, 1 in 5 parents do not have enough to feed their children.

Millions of Americans, especially women, continue to be affected by widespread business closures and subsequent job loss and more low income households are relying on social safety nets to feed themselves and their families.

WIC providers have reported increased need due to the pandemic and economic crisis, including in New York, where they have experienced a 3% increase in cases since February.

WPCNR THE LETTER TICKER. From Governor Andrew M. Cuomo. November 30, 2020:

We are entering a new phase in the war against COVID, and therefore a new strategy is required. We need to ensure that hospitals have enough capacity and enough staff to deal with the fall and winter surge that is upon us.

Tonight’s update will be longer than usual, so bear with us, as the details are significant. The Winter Plan to combat the COVID surge is multi-tiered and puts to good use the hard-won lessons we learned from the spring.

First, we will manage hospital capacity to enhance and equalize care.

Second, we will increase and balance testing resources and availability.

Third, we will keep schools open safely.

Fourth, we will try to prevent viral spread that stems from small gatherings.

And fifth and finally, we will operationalize an equitable and safe vaccination program. (You can read more about the plan here, but many key aspects of it are included below.)

 A vaccine is coming and this crisis will end. But until that happens, we must not overstress our hospital systems so we can save lives. That is the point of the Winter Plan, but it’s also a mission we all must get behind. We’ve been through the worst but we’re not done yet. 

Charts of the Day:

The rise in COVID hospitalizations is not limited to one area of New York. In fact, we can see it in every region of the state. Here’s what else you need to know about the Winter Plan: 

1. The State Department of Health is implementing new emergency hospital measures to manage capacity. Hospitals are directed to identify retired medical staff, prepare to add 50 percent bed capacity, and confirm they have the mandatory 90-day stockpile of PPE, among other measures. 

 2. The State will refine the criteria for Yellow, Orange and Red Zones. The refinement will take into account important factors including the rate of hospitalizations, available hospital and ICU beds, and hospital staffing, and is part of our larger strategy of protecting hospital capacity. These changes will be implemented after experts evaluate any “post-Thanksgiving effect” in the COVID numbers. 

 3. If a hospital system is overwhelmed, we can pull an “Emergency Stop.” In addition to the three existing micro-cluster zone levels (Yellow, Orange and Red), New York will add a new “Emergency Stop” level, which will effectively put that area under the NY on PAUSE guidelines from the spring. This new level would be used if a hospital system in that area was at serious risk of becoming overwhelmed.

    4. The State will encourage school districts to keep schools open, particularly K-8 schools. Our efforts will be focused on keeping K-8 and Special Education open as long as it can be done safely—using sustainable, ongoing testing. While local school districts are able to close at levels under the State’s mandatory closure rule, they are urged to keep K-8 schools open whenever it is safe. 

5. Small gatherings have now been identified as the number one spread of COVID-19. At least 65 percent of all cases come from these settings and sixteen states, including New York, have already limited gatherings to no more than 10 people. While the government’s ability to monitor small gatherings is limited, public education on the safety concerns of small gatherings is crucial. Help us spread the word on the danger these gatherings pose.

 6. It will likely be months before a critical mass of vaccinations becomes available. Even though a vaccine is expected to be released in the coming weeks, we’re still a while away from having a vaccine that is widely available. As the State operationalizes vaccine distribution, we continue to base our plan on three pillars: Fairness, Equity and Safety.  

Here’s what else you need to know tonight: 

1. The statewide positivity rate was 4.57 percent yesterday. There were 6,819 positive cases from 148,974 tests reported yesterday. The positivity rate in the micro-cluster focus areas was 6.22 percent. Excluding these areas, it was 4.02 percent. 

2. Total hospitalizations rose to 3,532. There were 681 patients in ICU yesterday, up 14 from the previous day. Of them, 325 are intubated. Sadly, we lost 54 New Yorkers to the virus.  

3. Elective surgeries in Erie County will be temporarily halted on Friday. Currently, the region has the most critical hospital situation in the state. Stopping elective surgeries will free up hospital beds. Elective surgeries consist of surgeries that are scheduled in advance.   

4. Contact tracers allow people to know if they’ve been exposed. This is important for the safety of the individual and the greater community. If you are contacted by a NYS contact tracer, please pick up the phone—if you have caller ID, it will read “NYS Contact Tracing.” Help them do their jobs and keep all of us safer.      

If you were forwarded this email, you can subscribe to New York State’s Coronavirus Updates here.

 Ever Upward, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo

WPCNR CORONAVIRUS REPORT. From the New York State Workbook Covid Tracker. November 30, 2020 UPDATED 4 PM E.S.T.:

Sunday results of Covid Testing in Westchester County are in.

They are not encouraging.

In 9,975 persons tested in the County yesterday, 583 tested covid positive requiring quarantine. That is 5.8% the highest infection rate Westchester County has seen in the second wave of growth in Covid infections since September 3.

In the last three days alone,testing has found 1,601 persons have tested positive. In the last 9 days from Friday November 20, through Sunday, November 29, 5,252 have tested positive for covid. The infection of persons tested is up to an average

Persons in Westchester County testing positive for coronavirus continued the spread of persons Covid-positive at the rate of 500 new cases a day over the weekend.

Friday, the 27th 544 tested positive for Covd-19 of 10,790 tested, an infection rate of 5%. Saturday, the 28th, 464 tested Covid-infected out of 9,875 persons, an infection rate of 4.7% .

For the 9 days through Sunday, the infection rate was 4.6%, compared to the 1.1% infection rate the NY State Commissioner of Health has determined keeps the virus from spreading.

The round of 464 new covid cases reported Saturday and the additional 583 Positives unfortunate enough to test positive Sunday raise the number of positive cases in Westchester to 50,693.

In the last nine days, there have been 5,252 new covid cases. Potential hospitalizations from this group should start in two weeks.

The impact of theses 5,252 new cases in hospitalizations remains to be seen and should start to make its impact in two weeks.