NY Covid News Superthread

[Chris 2,158]

11 minutes ago, KarenK said:

Yay!  Back to the original restrictions but they were not as restrictive as Orange and Yellow.  

I don’t even remember what those original restrictions were.

[KarenK 383]

2 hours ago, Chris said:

I don’t even remember what those original restrictions were.

LOL, well other than allowing more than 4 to a table, the club won't really be changing at all.  The food with booze is still in force but we were exempt and the 10pm curfew still applies.

I think it was making it officially official that orange zone was gone.

[Chris 2,158]

I think it makes things a little easier for the schools when it comes to random testing and stuff like that, but I honestly can't keep it straight anymore. 

[TTL News 308]

Quote

 

The deputy commissioner for public health at the New York state Health Department resigned in late summer. Soon after, the director of its bureau of communicable disease control also stepped down. So did the medical director for epidemiology. Last month, the state epidemiologist said she, too, would be leaving.

The drumbeat of high-level departures in the middle of the pandemic came as morale plunged in the Health Department and senior health officials expressed alarm to one another over being sidelined and treated disrespectfully, according to five people with direct experience inside the department.

Their concern had an almost singular focus: Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Even as the pandemic continues to rage and New York struggles to vaccinate a large and anxious population, Cuomo has all but declared war on his own public health bureaucracy. The departures have underscored the extent to which pandemic policy has been set by the governor, who with his aides crafted a vaccination program beset by early delays.

The troubled rollout came after Cuomo declined to use the long-standing vaccination plans that the state Department of Health had developed in recent years in coordination with local health departments. Cuomo instead adopted an approach that relied on large hospital systems to coordinate vaccinations not only of their own staffs, but also of much of the population.

In recent weeks, the governor has repeatedly made it clear that he believed he had no choice but to seize more control over pandemic policy from state and local public health officials, who he said had no understanding of how to conduct a real-world, large-scale operation like vaccinations. After early problems, in which relatively few doses were being administered, the pace of vaccinations has picked up and New York is now roughly 20th in the nation in percentage of residents who have received at least one vaccine dose.

“When I say ‘experts’ in air quotes, it sounds like I’m saying I don’t really trust the experts,” Cuomo said at a news conference on Friday, referring to scientific expertise at all levels of government during the pandemic. “Because I don’t. Because I don’t.”

 

See the remainder of the article here. 

[Ann 263]

It must be wonderful to be “all knowing”.  Control is all important to Cuomo.

[Chris 2,158]

I think in the earliest days of the pandemic, it was refreshing to see there was leadership and communication from the state level if no one else. ( Nursing home gaffe aside, and you know my thoughts on that.)

However we're going into a full year later, and it's very obvious he's enjoying the spotlight and the micromanagement. A leader who doesn't listen to his advisors, experts in their field no less, is not a very good leader. 

[MsKreed 1,176]

[MsKreed 1,176]

Quote

 

If you have a pre-existing condition, you're eligible to sign up for a COVID-19 vaccination appointment starting Sunday morning.

Health officials in the Finger Lakes region say you won't need a doctor's note to prove you have a pre-existing condition to sign up for an appointment.

 

Story HERE 

[KarenK 383]

40 minutes ago, MsKreed said:

Story HERE 

Apparently I qualify now.

[Chris 2,158]

41 minutes ago, KarenK said:

Apparently I qualify now.

Maybe there will be ample supply someday soon.

[KarenK 383]

1 hour ago, Chris said:

Maybe there will be ample supply someday soon.

No hurry here.  A lot of other people who need it out there right now.   

Edited February 14, 2021 by KarenK

[Chris 2,158]

12 hours ago, KarenK said:

No hurry here.  A lot of other people who need it out there right now.   

Yeah I'm of the same mind. Even within the sphere of my workplace, there's people I want to see in front of me in line. 

Looks like we're doing about average here in Chemung County:

[TTL News 308]

Earlier this week Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced that given the continued decline in hospitalization and infection rates throughout New York, closing times for restaurants and bars will be extended from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. statewide beginning Sunday, February 14. 

"Our decisions are based on science and data and we adjust as the virus adjusts. The infection rate and hospitalizations have continued to significantly decline," Governor Cuomo said. "Accordingly, we have adjusted with arena and catering hall openings with rigorous testing and limited capacity indoor dining openings in New York City. We will also move the restaurant and bar closing hour from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. statewide on Sunday. We will continue to follow the science and react accordingly. If we keep the infections down and vaccinations up, we will continue to stay ahead in the footrace against this invisible enemy."

[KarenK 383]

It's just science.  🙄

[Chris 2,158]

Yeah, a lot of this is just arbitrary garbage anymore.

[TTL News 308]

Quote

 

NEW YORK  — A new coronavirus variant that could be more transmissible and intractable than the traditional strain is on the rise in New York City, researchers said on Wednesday. 

Two studies — one from Columbia University and another from the California Institute of Technology — identified the new variant as B.1.526. Outside experts have reviewed neither study. 

The new variant, which shares similarities with that of one discovered first in South Africa, was first identified in samples collected in New York in November. By mid-February, it represented about 12% of cases, researchers at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons said on Wednesday.

The Columbia researchers said an analysis of publicly available databases did not show a high prevalence of coronavirus variants recently identified in South Africa and Brazil in case samples from New York City and surrounding areas.

 

See the rest of the article here.

[Chris 2,158]

I'm still waiting for that hidden factor. We're doing well, but not out of the woods yet. 

[Mahatma 31]

lol, C-Dawg they will never allow us to get "out of the woods" ...that, my friend, is up to us!    these "variants" ie. mutations will be continue to used to keep us down for years to come!  

[Chris 2,158]

12 minutes ago, Mahatma said:

lol, C-Dawg they will never allow us to get "out of the woods" 

I'm willing to bet cash money against that. 

[Mahatma 31]

On 2/25/2021 at 6:36 PM, Chris said:

I'm willing to bet cash money against that. 

sure ill take that bet.  but first lets define "out of the woods."   will that be living a day to day life without having to wear a mask?  (even with this "vaccine" there is no end to that form of control in sight).  Being able to visit loved ones at the nursing home or at senior living facilities?  being able to watch a friends child play a sport in person?  (entire sports seasons are still being cancelled daily).....Chris they will keep us "in the woods" for as long as they can.  just long enough for us to feel to guilty about the daily freedoms  we use to enjoy.  so how do you specifically define what "out of the woods" and what do you want to bet and what local charity should it benefit!  

[Chris 2,158]

I see statements like that getting thrown around all the time still and it drives me nuts. Who is this nefarious "they" and what is "their" motivation? It astounds me what people will believe. But then there's still people who think the Earth is flat and only 6,000 years old. 

I wonder if people were this frigging paranoid back in 1918 too.  
 

EDIT: I just want to clarify, I’m not calling Mahatma paranoid, but more the idea that this is all somehow “all about controlling us”.

[MsKreed 1,176]

51 minutes ago, Chris said:

Who is this nefarious "they" and what is "their" motivation?

Right. 

It's not like any multinational corporations have seen any increased profits in the past year.

It's been as devastating to big tech and pharma as it has to small business. Like how Netflix and Disney+ are bankrupt while the Heights Theater's profits soared, right?

It seems obtuse to me for anyone to think very rich and influential corporations are somehow too altruistic to exploit a crisis or use their influence to promote whatever soap they've got for sale.

Do you honestly believe that the folks at Pfizer and Moderna are heartbroken to have a product that everyone on the planet is being compelled to get...at a "money is no object" price paid for by taxpayers all over the world? Or wouldn't try to persuade politicians to make this a repeating event if they can?

 

Edited February 28, 2021 by MsKreed

[Chris 2,158]

7 minutes ago, MsKreed said:

Do you honestly believe that the folks at Pfizer and Moderna are heartbroken to have a product that everyone on the planet is being compelled to get...at a "money is no object" price paid for by taxpayers all over the world? 

Of course not.

What I’m referring to is the belief held by so many that all of this is some big plot by the government to control our day to day lives.

Yeah, because attending little Susie’s soccer game or whether or not John Doe wears a mask into Wegmans are vital components in the plans for world domination and the New World Order. 

[Ann 263]

48 minutes ago, Chris said:

Of course not.

What I’m referring to is the belief held by so many that all of this is some big plot by the government to control our day to day lives.

Yeah, because attending little Susie’s soccer game or whether or not John Doe wears a mask into Wegmans are vital components in the plans for world domination and the New World Order. 

Gov. Cuomo is allowing Weddings to take place beginning March 15th I think.  Up to 150 guests allowed, dancing will be in a designated area and you must be masked.    Allowing this and that that by this date at certain percentages.  One could say it’s about getting people used to doing what they are told, when they are told, getting them used to following orders.

Just a thought.

[Chris 2,158]

1 hour ago, Ann said:

One could say it’s about getting people used to doing what they are told, when they are told, getting them used to following orders.

Or it could just be rules, arbitrary or otherwise, put in place by people who want to look like they’re doing something.

But I’ll ask again, getting people used to doing whatever, whenever... To what end? There’s no logic, and no one I’ve asked can answer it.

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar folks.