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NYS Coronavirus Update

The Food and Drug Administration on Sunday issued an emergency use authorization for hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine, decades-old malaria drugs. The agency allowed for the drugs to be “donated to the Strategic National Stockpile to be distributed and prescribed by doctors to hospitalized teen and adult patients with COVID-19, as appropriate, when a clinical trial is not available or feasible,” HHS said in a statement.

Congresswoman Stefanik Unveils New COVID-19 Resources and CARES ACT Information Website. Her office put together a new website with specific information on what the stimulus package does for families, healthcare workers, seniors, small businesses, veterans, students, and rural communities. It also includes Frequently Asked Questions and general COVID-19 resources page. You can access the website at Stefanik.house.gov/coronavirus

The New York State Dept of Labor is waiving the 7-day waiting period for unemployment insurance benefits for people who are out of work due to Coronavirus closures or quarantines.

Brooks Brothers is sewing hope in the coronavirus fight. Instead of churning out preppy staples like seersucker suits and woven-silk ties, America’s oldest retailer is now making masks and gowns for health care workers.” The company’s goal is to make 150,000 masks per day, reports the New York Post.

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NYS Coronavirus Update

CDC Issues Domestic Travel Advisory for New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut Due to extensive community transmission of COVID-19 in the area, CDC urges residents of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut to refrain from non-essential domestic travel for 14 days effective immediately. This Domestic Travel Advisory does not apply to employees of critical infrastructure industries, including but not limited to trucking, public health professionals, financial services, and food supply. The Governors of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut will have full discretion to implement this Domestic Travel Advisory.

A site on Lake George has offered its facilities to New York state should a North Country temporary hospital site be needed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the Post Star, The Silver Bay YMCA Conference and Family Retreat Center on the west shore of Lake George in Hague, NY, made this offer earlier this week. Read the story here.

New York State will stay on PAUSE through April 15th. That means the non-essential workforce is directed to continue to work from home until at least April 15th. NY State will re-evaluate every two weeks.

Pharmacies will now offer free home delivery to New Yorkers. The state’s major pharmacy chains have agreed to offer free home delivery to help reduce long lines for prescriptions at their facilities.

The USNS Comfort, a U.S. Navy hospital ship, is expected to arrive in New York Harbor on Monday. It is a massive facility with 1,000 beds, 12 operating rooms, a pharmacy and a medical laboratory. It is fully staffed with 1,200 members of the US Navy. The Comfort’s beds will be used for non-Coronavirus patients to free up hospital capacity.

Elsewhere:

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NYS Coronavirus Update

The federal government has sent 4,000 ventilators to NY State. According to Governor Cuomo at his press conference today, these are not in use “because we don’t need them currently.” These are being stockpiled, if they are needed within the next month.

All non-essential construction must be suspended.
Essential construction, for example construction on roads, bridges, transit facilities, homeless shelters and health care facilities, may continue. For more details, see https://esd.ny.gov/guidance-executive-order-2026.

Apple has worked with the Trump administration and federal agencies to release a COVID-19 screening tool app and website. This site is now live. https://www.apple.com/covid19

New York’s presidential primary will be moved to June 23rd. The Governor is issuing an Executive Order to move the presidential primary election from April 28 to June 23rd, aligning it with the congressional and legislative primaries in New York.

The federal government has approved four new sites for temporary hospitals to be built by the Army Corps of Engineers. The sites — the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal, the Aqueduct Racetrack facility in Queens, CUNY Staten Island and the New York Expo Center in the Bronx — will add an additional 4,000 beds to the state’s capacity.

The state will dedicate specific hospital facilities as COVID-patient only. The state has identified three sites — South Beach Psychiatric Facility in Staten Island, Westchester Square in the Bronx and SUNY Downstate in Brooklyn — that will provide more than 600 beds specifically for COVID-19 patients.

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NYS Coronavirus Update


March 27, 2020 – New York City, NY – Governor Andrew Cuomo entering a press briefing on coronavirus at Jacob Javits Convention Center, where a make-shift hospital is now complete. (Darren McGee- Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo)

The first 1,000-bed temporary hospital is now complete at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in Manhattan. The facility will fully open on Monday. Congratulations to FEMA, the Army Corps of Engineers, the National Guard and the staff at Javits for their speedy work. They built an entire hospital in a week — an incredible achievement.

Schools statewide will remain closed until at least April 15th. The state will reassess whether to continue closures at that time. School districts will be required to continue child care, meal and distance learning programs.

The USNS Comfort, a U.S. Navy hospital ship, is expected to arrive in New York Harbor on Monday. It is a massive facility with 1,000 beds, 12 operating rooms, a pharmacy and a laboratory. The Comfort’s beds will be used for non-Coronavirus patients to free up hospital capacity.

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Video: Dr. Deborah Birx March 26th Comments

In the video below from Thursday March 26th, Dr. Deborah Birx, the response coordinator for the White House Coronavirus Task Force, makes some very important points.

1.) She specifically notes that a recent report, which had predicted 500,000 deaths in the UK and estimated 2.2 million deaths in the United States, just scaled back its estimate from 500,000 UK deaths to 20,000. That’s a big change.

2.) Models or simulations predicting very high mortality rates, Birx said, don’t match the reality of what they’ve seen on the ground in China, South Korea or Italy. Birx said if you did the divisions according to the models, Italy should have 400,000 deaths. But she says, they’re not even close to that. Indeed, they are at 8,215 deaths and they appear to have started flattening their curve, with five successive days down below their peak on March 21.

3.) Dr. Birx also corrected another concern, saying there were enough ICU beds and “significant” ventilators available (even in NY state). She says that while the cases may be concentrated now in urban areas, there were other areas where it was not, and they can adjust to get equipment or patients to where they need to be.

4.) There is “no reality on the ground” where 60% to 70% of Americans will be infected in the next 8 – 12 weeks.

While everyone needs to be careful and be on guard, panic does no good. Please consider what Dr. Birx is saying.

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Please Read: COVID-19 Update Washington County NY

Governor Cuomo has announced that “New York State on PAUSE” plan, takes effect 8 p.m. Sunday, banning all non-essential gatherings of individuals “of any size for any reason.”

Also, all workers should stay home unless they fall into the list of essential businesses.

Washington County Board of Supervisors Chairman Samuel J. Hall has declared a State of Emergency for Washington County, effective as of 2:00 PM on March 16, 2020, and will remain in effect for the next thirty days, or until rescinded. The State of Emergency allows the county to continue facilitating the ongoing response to COVID-19 and to provide the County of Washington and local organizations with the flexibility needed to respond to this imminent threat to public health, safety and quality of life.

Updates can be found here:
http://www.washingtoncountyny.gov/coronavirus

As of 3/22/2020 3:30 pm

There are now 4 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Washington County

None of the identified COVID-19 positive patients are related or from the same household, all are from different geographic areas across the county. During the Public Health investigations, one of the COVID-19 positive patients self-identified as an operator of an in-home daycare facility. Once symptomatic they contacted Public Health and their family doctor for further evaluation and testing and ceased operating the daycare with notification of symptoms to the parents of those in their care. All of those in their care and with close physical contact have been notified and are now registered as PUIs.

While many in our communities would like to know more specific information about the COVID-19 positive patients and their locations, due to privacy regulations coupled with the county’s privacy policy, Washington County will not routinely release specific identifying information about patients (i.e., age, location) unless it aids in the Public Health investigation and identification of additional PUIs. Please remember, the identified PUIs and COVID-19 patients are under quarantine for 14 days from the date of exposure and are not out in the public. Public Health conducts a public health investigation on every COVID-19 positive patient and makes notification to those identified as having close personal contact with a COVID-19 positive patient

Most Washington county offices are closed.

PLEASE NOTE:
Send home or separate anyone who becomes sick.

If you identify a case, inform people who might have been exposed.
Continue to safely clean and disinfect all areas.

If you have been exposed to someone who may be sick, please stay inside and self-quarantine.

There are people in the community with weakened immune systems – please be considerate to all those you encounter. Please use social distancing at all times.

I have spoken to Huletts Landing Fire Chief & Safety Officer, Jay VanderPlaat, who wants people to know that treatment protocols have changed rapidly and that the personal protective required articles are in short supply or are back ordered from the county and/or state. Because of these requirements and the shortage of protective gear, local EMT’s may be unable to respond to COVID-19 or breathing issues and those so afflicted may have to wait for an ambulance during the current emergency.

This is an unprecedented time in the history of our nation, state and Washington County, including Huletts Landing. Please act accordingly.

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Vermont News: Police Release Video of Fatal Shootout in Rutland

The video below contains graphic content.

A recently released Rutland City police video of a fatal shootout shows the suspect firing at a police station and then at police officers who later caught up with him.

The station and dashboard cameras captured the incident that began with shots being fired into a door of the Rutland City Police department and continued later with a pursuit which ended near the downtown Walmart and Amtrak station in Rutland on October 8, 2019.

After a review, it was determined the actions of the four police officers involved were justified.

Embedded VTDigger video below:

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Shiffrin Wins Killington Slalom

Mikaela Shiffrin moved into a tie for second on the women’s World Cup career wins list, taking No. 62 and her fourth straight Killington slalom title on Sunday. See her final two runs below.

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Smokey Bear Turns 75, Still Teaching About Forest Fires

August 2019 marks the 75th anniversary of the launch of the Smokey Bear Wildlife Prevention campaign by the U.S. Forest Service. The iconic character was created by the U.S. Forest Service as it’s mascot and modeled after a small cub rescued from a wildfire in New Mexico. It has become a symbol for forest fire prevention. Smokey’s catchphrase, “Only You Can Prevent Wildfires” is readily understandable to all.