Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on March 24, 2020

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in New York City more than doubled in just one day, reaching 1,871 on Wednesday. As the outbreak continues to spiral, officials continue to pile on more social restrictions in hopes of slowing the spread.

Businesses will now be ordered to keep half their employees at home, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced. Health care providers, grocery stores and other essential services are exempt. But shopping malls, amusement parks, and bowling alleys (were you people still bowling?) are ordered to close by tonight.

What New York has not yet done is impose an order for residents to shelter in place. Cuomo has pushed back on warnings including from Mayor Bill de Blasio that the order could be coming soon, telling CNNs Wolf Blitzer Wednesday night he doesnt want anyone to get the idea theyre imprisoned or losing individual mobility.

But shelter in place orders elsewhere havent quite reached such scary levels: in the Bay Area, for instance, people can still do things like go to the doctor, visit the grocery store and exercise outside.

That sounds very much like a possible scenario in New York, because the governor has said he is considering stricter limitations in the near future if current restrictions dont significantly slow the spread of the virus.

Finally, federal help may be on the way, but that comes with a significant asterisk. A military hospital ship, aptly named the USNS Comfort, has been dispatched to New York Harbor, where it will offer 1,000 hospital beds. But it turns out the ship is undergoing maintenance and not ready to deploy, and it will be weeks before it gets here. And while President Donald Trump said he would invoke the Defense Production Act to order industries to manufacture medical equipment and supplies, he later said he wont use his powers to force such a ramp up yet.

GOOD NEWS: 108 New Yorkers have recovered and been discharged from the hospital, Cuomo said Wednesday, and the first positive test a health care worker who was quarantined but not hospitalized has now tested negative.

IT'S THURSDAY. Got tips, suggestions or thoughts? Let us know ...By email: [emailprotected] and [emailprotected], or on Twitter: @erinmdurkin and @annagronewold

WHERES ANDREW? Appearing on NBCs Today Show, MSNBCs Morning Joe, and CNNs New Day.

WHERES BILL? Holding a virtual press conference on coronavirus.

IF YOU LIKE DATA: Track state-by-state testing efforts with POLITICOs interactive. Were updating as new numbers keep rolling in from the The COVID Tracking Project.

A message from the Healthcare Education Project:

Tell Albany: Now more than ever, we must keep the Medicaid Promise! Medicaid is the difference between life and death for some of the most vulnerable New Yorkers, including seniors, children, and people with disabilities. One third of all New Yorkers are covered by Medicaid and millions more benefit indirectly. Learn More.

NEW YORK CITY is working with the hospitality industry to possibly convert entire hotels into hospitals for patients without the novel coronavirus, in an effort to increase capacity at medical facilities as the outbreak grows. The citys emergency management commissioner, Deanne Criswell, said in an interview Wednesday that hotels could be vital as New York City needs more beds to treat those with Covid-19. The hotels would be for those non-Covid patients who are really minor but need care, she said. It couldnt be determined how many beds would be immediately available for these patients or how much the city would pay hotels. The city currently uses hotels for some quarantine, and could use them to house health-care workers who need places to stay, Ms. Criswell said. With the citys tourism industry hit by the virus, many hotels are now empty, she added. New York City has 1,339 confirmed cases of the virus as of Wednesday afternoon, with 10 deaths. Wall Street Journals Katie Honan

In one day, 1,000 retired and private practice doctors and nurses volunteered to join the effort to fight coronavirus.

CITY EDUCATORS say they're bracing for herculean challenges in adjusting to teaching students remotely and are racing to adapt their lessons as the city rolled out additional guidelines for principals and teachers Wednesday. Teachers and parents POLITICO spoke to described an onslaught of information being rolled out as the city begins the process of teaching more than 1 million students from afar, at dramatically different levels of learning, affluence and technological savvy nevermind students who don't speak English or those have special needs. Islah Tauheed, a general education second grade teacher at P.S. 567 Linden Tree Elementary School in the Bronx told POLITICO 20 of her school's families are in shelter and about 100 are living doubled up with relatives. When it came to Sunday night I was so heartbroken, Tauheed said referring to when the city finally decided to close schools amid the rapidly spreading coronavirus. I didnt have a proper goodbye or proper closure, or the fact that in the Bronx 37 percent of our students are in temporary housing, just not knowing where they were gonna get their food. POLITICOs Madina Tour

HEALTH OFFICIALS EXPRESSED growing alarm on Wednesday that the coronavirus is spreading quickly in tightly knit Hasidic Jewish communities in Brooklyn, saying that they are investigating a sharp spike in confirmed cases in recent days. More than 100 people have recently tested positive for the coronavirus in two Brooklyn neighborhoods with sizable Hasidic Jewish populations, all of them at two urgent care centers that have been crowded with anxious patients, according to an urgent care center employee. The burst of positive diagnoses in Brooklyn has been centered in Hasidic communities in Borough Park and Williamsburg. The tests were conducted at Asisa Urgent Care facilities in each neighborhood, and the results were all received by the end of the day on Tuesday... On Wednesday, the state health commissioner, Howard Zucker, said his office was aware of the high number of cases in Borough Park and was investigating it as a possible cluster. Theres two possibilities: Theres a lot of testing thats going on or potentially one or more individuals that have been infected, Dr. Zucker said. So thats something thats new on the radar and were investigating that. New York Times Liam Stack

Hasidic leaders have begun sounding the alarm.

THE CORONAVIRUS HAS quickly wreaked havoc on New York Citys economy, sending portions of the workforce into a tailspin and lurching the city budget into potential chaos. A leading financial watchdog, the Citizens Budget Commission, estimated the city could lose $5 billion in revenue in the upcoming fiscal year, based on the prior two recessions. Yet unlike recessions, this fiscal crisis was hastened by orders from the city government, suddenly bringing unprecedented challenges to the citys economy. On Monday, all bars and restaurants a staple of New York Citys vibrant nightlife were ordered to shutter or provide only takeout. Broadway and movie theaters have gone dark by order of the state. And with travel restrictions from Europe, the partial closure of the Canadian border and increasingly stringent rules on domestic trips, the hospitality industry is in free fall. Almost overnight, these edicts have decimated the arts, entertainment, hotel and food industries, which accounted for roughly 10 percent of the citys 4.7 million private-sector jobs as of December. In a recession people might go out to eat less, or go to a less expensive restaurant, Andrew Rein, head of the budget commission, said in an interview. That is not the same thing as saying, No one is going to go out to a restaurant at all. POLITICOs Joe Anuta

The New York Stock Exchange will temporarily close its historic trading floor and move to all electronic trading after two people tested positive in screenings it set up.

Gig economy workers are left out of state relief efforts.

Anywhere between 20,000 and 30,000 New York City hotel workers are likely to lose their jobs over the next month.

An Amazon warehouse worker in Queens has tested positive.

See snapshots of a changing New York City economy.

A RIKERS ISLAND guard and inmate tested positive for novel coronavirus and a Department of [Correction] investigator has died, spurring the citys top lawmakers to demand at-risk detainees and those paroled on lesser charges be immediately released. Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and City Council Member Brad Lander called on Gov. Cuomo, Mayor Bill de Blasio and the citys district attorneys to release low-level offenders, chronically ill New Yorkers and those more than 50 years old. 'Theyre in cages and theyre afraid,' Williams said. 'We want to make sure everyone is actually protected.' Of the 900 older detainees, about 600 have chronic medical conditions, about 300 are held on a parole warrant, about 200 are held on bail and 75 are being held on a minor city sentence, the lawmakers said. Patchs Kathleen Culliton

Homeless shelters have not yet fully complied with social distancing guidelines.

The MTA is borrowing $1 billion to stay afloat amid a massive ridership drop.

The NYPD is telling police officers to keep working even if theyre been exposed to coronavirus, as long as they dont have symptoms.

The MTA is stopping shared Access-a-Ride trips.

The NYPD and Jamaica Hospital offered coronavirus testings for first responders, but ran out of tests by noon.

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams is still requiring nearly his entire staff to work from the office.

ON WEDNESDAY, Assembly and Senate members warily returned to Albany to find a different kind of Capitol: its usually bustling hallways empty, its cocktail bars shuttered and its fund-raisers canceled, with normally gregarious legislators avoiding shaking hands or hugging. The transformed landscape led veteran lawmakers to wonder aloud whether their tradition-bound rules needed to be adapted for the outbreak. Theres got to be a 21st-century way to deal with this, said Assemblyman Daniel ODonnell, 59, a nine-term Democrat from Manhattan, who said he was driving to Albany in a car packed with sanitary wipes and rubber gloves to push a button. Im not a hypochondriac, he said. But Im very anxious about this." New York Times Jesse McKinley and Luis Ferr-Sadurn

PRO SUBSCRIBERS: Check out scenes from an empty Capitol, from newly minted POLITICO photographers Nick Niedzwiadek and Bill Mahoney.

Anxiety is mounting among many state employees who are still being required to report to crowded offices.

STATES BRACE FOR BUDGET CLIFF: Some states, like California, may be better prepared to weather the storm, sitting on a surplus and $20 billion reserve fund built after lessons learned from the last downturn. But others will have to figure out which programs to cut for the first time in years. Illinois, for instance, doesnt even have a rainy day fund. That was on Gov. J.B. Pritzkers wish list for this years legislative session which has now been put on hold. States such as New York are already talking about building contingencies into their spending plan. Trigger cuts a well-worn tool during the last recession are already entering the conversation.

Washington, of course, can use its borrowing powers where states can't, as it did during the last recession with a massive public works package intended to create jobs and buoy local economies. Congress and the Trump administration are now discussing a package of more than $1 trillion in stimulus, and state and local leaders have begun to press for emergency federal aid to support sectors from transportation to dining. Were going to need the federal government with us in a big way, said New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat. And I think everybody recognizes that and I dont mean just New Jersey. Were going to need help. This is beyond any one state. But Democrats in particular wonder if the Trump administration will be eager to increase funding to areas it previously slated for cuts, such as Medicaid and social service programs that would serve as a safety net for those hit hardest by coronavirus economic damage. POLITICOs Kevin Yamamura

County governments in New York could face an economic hit of $350 million to $1 billion in lost revenue as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, a report found.

THE LEGALIZATION of marijuana for recreational use in New York is likely off the table in the state budget, which is due in two weeks, because of complications in negotiations spurred by novel coronavirus, State Sen. Liz Krueger, D-Manhattan, said Wednesday. Krueger, the lead sponsor of legislation that would legalize the drug, said she didnt believe lawmakers could negotiate a deal on marijuana legalization by the April 1 deadline. I dont believe marijuana is going to be negotiated in this budget in the next few days, Krueger said. I just dont see it as realistic. New York Nows Dan Clark

MRT II MUSCLES ON: A redefined Medicaid global cap, a 60-month look-back period for home- and community-based care eligibility and increased across-the-board reductions are among the dozens of proposals the Medicaid Redesign Team II is expected to recommend lawmakers adopt to close New Yorks budget shortfall. The 21-member panel, which Gov. Andrew Cuomo tasked with identifying $2.5 billion in program savings for his fiscal fear 2021 budget, issued a series of recommendations late Tuesday, according to documents provided to POLITICO from multiple sources. The MRT II, which is set to hold its third and final public meeting Thursday, is expected to discuss the recommendations outlined in an executive summary and scorecard during a Wednesday afternoon call, various sources have confirmed. POLITICOs Shannon Young

ICYMI: New York has delayed enforcement of its statewide plastic bag ban for another seven weeks amid coronavirus concerns. Its welcome news for folks fighting the ban already who are pointing to plastic products as a defense against virus spread. There is ample scientific research concluding reusable bags can contribute to the spread of bacteria and viruses, and now more than ever we need to take every step possible to ensure that New Yorkers are safe and healthy, American Recyclable Plastic Bag Alliance executive director Matt Seaholm said in a statement.

#UpstateAmerica: Amid limited medical supplies statewide, a Liverpool couple is using 3D printers in their basement to make face shields for coronavirus testing workers.

WASHINGTON is mobilizing to rescue the country from potentially disastrous economic consequences from the global coronavirus outbreak, with the Senate on Wednesday passing a multi-billion dollar emergency package and quickly getting to work on a larger stimulus agreement. With Senate leaders vowing to work at warp speed to blunt the financial fallout from the pandemic, the Treasury Department unveiled to lawmakers a plan for $250 billion in direct payments to Americans starting April 6. Meanwhile, Senate Republicans were inching closer on Wednesday to unveiling their proposal for a third, even larger stimulus package to address the epidemic, which is likely to include some of Treasury's ideas. The Senates approval Wednesday of the House-passed coronavirus bill, known as phase two, comes as Republican senators are expected to begin negotiations with Democrats on a trillion-dollar phase three stimulus package as early as Wednesday nightDespite real shortcomings in the legislation, McConnell said, in this case, I do not believe we should let perfection be the enemy of something that will help even a subset of workers. POLITICOs Marianne LeVine and Andrew Desiderio

Brian Lehrer in the age of pandemonium.

LISTEN: De Blasio Struggles to Communicate Amidst COVID-19 Crisis, by WNYCs Brigid Bergin.

The Met is projecting $100 million in losses and expects to remain closed until July.

Police gave criminal summonses to two businesses that refused to shut down in response to coronavirus orders.

The fleet of trash haulers that pick up commercial garbage are bracing for a major hit with the shutdown of many businesses.

Ex-NYC Transit boss Andy Byford is stuck in England.

Retailers prohibited from price gouging on key supplies say they themselves are being gouged by their suppliers.

Danny Meyers Union Square Hospitality Group is laying off 2,000 employees, representing 80 percent of its workforce.

A woman threw an oxygen tank in front of an oncoming subway train, sparking an explosion.

Convicted Nxivm sex cult leader Keith Raniere is getting another delay in his sentencing date thanks to the coronavirus outbreak.

Cuomo had informal discussions with prosecutors, criminal justice advocates and NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea on Wednesday about potential changes to New Yorks bail laws.

Some New Yorkers are taking to city parks as a way to escape the pandemic-brought disarray.

A firefighter has tested positive for the virus, marking the fourth confirmed case within the FDNY.

Assembly Democrats appear to be hesitant about Cuomos priority budget proposal to accelerate the siting of new renewables.

Former prosecutor Linda Farstein sued Netflix for defamation over a series about the Central Park Five case.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Jill Abramson is 66 Kayla Cook, COS at Axios, is 35 Van Scott of ABC News Kivvits Ian Hainline is 31 T. Christian Miller, senior investigative reporter at ProPublica CBS Emma Gottlieb Alissa Krinsky (was Wednesday): Jaime Venditti, managing partner and president of J Strategies, Inc. (hat tip: Adam Morey)

MAKING MOVES Paul Dans is now White House liaison and senior adviser to the director of OPM. He previously was at HUD, where he was senior adviser in the Office of Community Planning & Development. Dans began his legal career as an associate at New York law firms LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae and Debevoise & Plimpton.

MEDIAWATCH Per Talking Biz News: Chao Li has joined The Wall Street Journal as a weekend strategy editor. Recently, she held the post of associate director of product operations at Group Nine Media. Jack Brewster, founder and managing editor of Newsreel, a political news platform for a young audience, will be joining Forbes as a politics reporter.

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO on Wednesday announced that all nonessential businesses must have no more than 50 percent of their employees working outside their homes. The executive order laying out this mandate, which has not been publicly released, is expected to take effect Friday. Building Trades Employers Association President Louis Coletti said his organization has called on state and city officials to include construction among the essential businesses to be exempt from the rule. After his announcement, Cuomo tweeted that the order would apply to businesses that rely on in-office personnel, which would figure to exclude construction. But the construction industry still seeks a formal characterization as essential, alongside healthcare providers and grocery stores, so construction sites could remain active in the event of a shelter-in-place order. Mayor Bill de Blasio has asked New Yorkers to prepare for such an order, but Cuomo wants to first see if less drastic measures will stem the pandemic in the state. Real Deals Kathryn Brenzel

A message from the Healthcare Education Project:

Now more than ever, we need Albany to keep Medicaid strong. New Yorks Medicaid program provides critical health insurance to low-income children and adults, seniors, and people with disabilities so that they and their families can get the healthcare they need to get healthy and stay healthy, particularly in times of crisis. It allows them to see a doctor when they are sick, get check-ups, buy medications, and go to the hospital. Medicaid is the difference between life and death for some of the most vulnerable in our communities, and there are millions more who benefit indirectly from this essential program. No New Yorker should have to choose between paying for healthcare and paying for rent or groceries. As our state leaders address the budget deficit, they must recognize essential spending on services and a quality workforce. Tell Albany: Now more than ever, keep the Medicaid Promise! Learn More.

Its been a busy week for the Buffalo Bills. Mario Addison is a pass-rusher in a win-now mode, something reinforced by the loss by the Patriots of Tom Brady. Guys like Quinton Jefferson and Josh Norman, the latter signed to play cornerback, only enhance the defensive options for a Buffalo team that already tilted that way last season. The big addition came on offense, though: Stefon Diggs changes the way the field is going to look to quarterback Josh Allen. The Bills are legitimate Super Bowl contenders.

The day ahead: Both NBA League Pass and NFL Game Pass are now available, free, to us all. So obviously, Im going to start you on May 8, 1970. The Willis Reed Game. Go enjoy the shock as he emerges from the tunnel, 50 years ago somehow.

See more here:

NYC coronavirus cases double Businesses ordered to keep half of workforce at home City looks to turn hotels into hospitals - Politico

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