(THIS STORY WAS UPDATED SATURDAY AT 12:40 P.M. TO INCLUDE THE UPSTATE COVID-19 TRIAGE PHONE NUMBER)
The following is a compilaton of developments regarding Covid-19 and its impact on Central New York and New York State.
SYRACUSE CENTER TO TEST FOR CORONAVIRUS
Starting Monday, the Syracuse Community Health Center will begin testing for Covid-19. Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon says this is not a walk-in clinic; patients have to be referred by a doctor or other health professional. Testing is already being done by doctors and hospitals. Hill-Rom and the Allyn Foundation are providing materials for the testing.
UPSTATE HOSPITAL OPENS TRIAGE PHONE LINE
Upstate University Hospital has opened a Covid-19 triage phone line. A release states if a member of the public has coronavirus-related questions, is showing possible symptoms, or may have had an exposure to someone diagnosed with a positive case of COVID-19, they would call this line to be guided on next steps.
The number is (315) 464-3979. This line is for non-911 calls.
Calls will be triaged using algorithms developed by clinical staff at Upstate University Hospital.
Upstate’s COVID-19 triage line is part of an ongoing effort to provide information to the public, while ensuring emergency departments and community physicians are not overwhelmed with non-emergency visits during this pandemic.
The triage line will serve the following counties: Onondaga, Cayuga, Oswego, Madison, Cortland, Chenango, Tompkins, Tioga, Broome, Oneida, Herkimer, Lewis, Jefferson, St. Lawrence.
County Executive Ryan McMahon continues to implore residents with symptoms consistent with Covid-19 to CALL their provider first, and not go to the doctor’s office, ER, or urgent care. He says only those who have not tested positive for any other infection will get tested for Covid-19. He says this will avoid unnecessarily straining the health care system and ultimately denying care to those who truly need it.
There are still no positive cases of novel coronavirus in Onondaga County or neighboring counties as of Friday evening.
McMahon notes of all the testing nationwide for Covid-19, only one percent come back positive.
ONEIDA COUNTY UNDER STATE OF EMERGENCY
County Executive Anthony Picente, Jr. made the delaration Friday, and ordered the closing of all public schools due to the threat of Covid-19. There are no confirmed cases of the disease in the county, but Picente says the step is needed to ensure health and safety of residents. There is a positive case in neighboring Herkimer County, which also closed it schools.
NYS TESTING CAPACITY BOOSTED
The FDA has now given the green light for New York State to conduct all Covid-19 testing at 28 public and private labs across the state. In a release, Governor Cuomo says the manual, semi-automated, and automated testing will increase capacity to 6,000 tests per day in the next week. Meanwhile, the state opened its first drive-through Covid-19 mobile testing center in New Rochelle, the epicenter of New York’s outbreak. It will test up to 500 per day in the coming days. More on that story below.
UTILITIES EASE BURDEN
National Grid and utilities across the state are temporarily suspending collections-related activities including service disconnections to lessen any financial hardship the Covid-19 pandemic may have on customers. In a release, utility officials say it’s part of their pandemic preparedness plan to mitigate the impact of the virus on customers, and the workforce. The state’s department of public service is working with utilities to ensure customers affected by Covid-19 restrictions they will not lose power or heat due to financial hardship. Meanwhile, Verizon is dropping late fees and won’t discontinue service for those who can’t pay because of Covid-19.
The State DMV is urging motorists to complete their transactions online at dmv.ny.gov or by mail before coming to one of their offices. Kiosks are also available at state welcome centers.
MORE CANCELLATIONS
Syracuse Stage has suspended its Amadeus performances beginning Saturday. Subscribers and ticketholders will be given an option to view the play using an online streaming option. The Landmark Theatre has cancelled its performances of blue man group through the 15th. Most school districts have also cancelled high school musicals. Be sure to check with any performance, show, exhibit, event, or other gathering you might be attending to see if it’s still on.
CYBERSECURITY SUMMIT ALSO ADDRESSES CORONAVIRUS
The coronavirus was front and center at a cyber-security summit in Skaneateles Friday where area businesses learned how to plan and handle internal and external threats. It was a first-ever event put on by the Manufacturer’s Association of Central New York or MACNY. Keynote speaker Frank Figliuzzi is a former FBI Assistant Director for Counterintelligence, and also worked in GE’s crisis management division. He says having a team and a continuity plan are key to being prepared for the unexpected, including a pandemic.
"Your HR leader. Your IT leader. Your communications leader. Your legal staff. All of those people are going to be naturally on a crisis or continuity team. Now you just need to change the gears and shift them toward a health crisis."
Figliuzzi says illness-related planning needs to take into account an unavailable workforce for potentially long periods of time, versus a cyber attack or other disaster that compromises servers, buildings, or equipment. The trouble is, he says, many small and medium sized businesses like the ones in Central New York are stretched and busy that they don’t have time to put together a crisis team or plan. Figliuzzi implored them to do that at the conference, and in the case of Covid-19, be ready to work with others.
"States, counties, municipalties, and individual businesses are going to have to figure this out, and they're doing a pretty good job. My ask is that they do it in coordination with each other because we can't contain this or mitigate the spread of this without a coordinated effort."
Because, he says, speaking from experience, the federal government won’t always have the answers. He adds, however, that federal and state agencies will need to offer relief if the pandemic lingers. In the short term, he says addressing inadequacies in testing and knowing just who and how many are infected will actually go a long way toward calming people and markets.
NYS OPENS DRIVE-THROUGH TESTING CENTER
Karen DeWitt, Capitol Correspondent
Governor Andrew Cuomo opened a drive through corona virus testing center in New Rochelle, which is at the epicenter of the disease in New York, and announced that the state now has more people with the disease than any other state in the country .
The drive through center has six lanes and can test up to 500 people a day in New Rochelle and the surrounding communities. Residents do have to make an appointment first.
The state also received permission from the federal Food and Drug Administration to allow New York to contract with 28 private labs to begin manual, automated testing for COVID-19. The state will also be able to use a high volume testing platform developed by the pharmaceutical company Roche Industries, which could eventually produce test results in one to two days. The Governor says the approvals will increase the state's testing capacity from 3,000 tests to date to about 6,000 per day within the next week.
Cuomo says because of initial delays in the testing process by the federal government, it may be too late to catch up, though. The governor says he thinks thousands of New Yorkers may have already had the virus.
“If you talk to health care professionals they will say that it is much more widespread today, then you know,” said Cuomo. “It was here before you knew it, it was wider spread in the past than you know, and it will spread more than you think.”
And he says based on the experiences in other countries, the virus could be around for six to nine months.
The governor also revealed that one of his daughters was in precautionary quarantine for 14 days after being exposed to someone with COVID 19. He says he did not visit her during that time.
Cuomo says he continues to be concerned about hospital capacity and whether New York’s hospitals have enough essential equipment, like ventilators. State Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker says his department is taking steps.
“We’re looking into all the issues of additional equipment, and we have purchased additional equipment, as well,” Zucker said.
Currently 12% of those infected in the state have been hospitalized, and a smaller percentage needed intensive care unit beds. The governor says the state has just 3200 ICU beds, and it’s difficult to quickly create new ones. That’s why Cuomo says measures need to be taken to slow the spread of the virus.
“If you don’t flatten that curve, the wave is a tsunami that totally swamps the existing hospital system,” Cuomo said.
A number of school districts around the state announced on Friday that they are closing schools. The state's teachers unions are pressing for school closures. New York State United Teachers wants schools closed in counties where people have tested positive for the virus. New York City's teachers union, the United Federation of Teachers, wants the city's schools to end in- classroom instruction for a time. Cuomo says closing schools is a local decision, but he believes it might be an overreaction, based on the current numbers of infected people around the state. And he says if children are home, their parents, who might have essential jobs, have to be home, too.
“If the kids are home, the parents are home. Well, if the parents are home, who is going to be working in my hospitals?” Cuomo said. “It’s complicated.”
There are other uncertainties about public events in the coming days, as well. Cuomo says no decision has been made yet on whether to postpone two upcoming scheduled elections, one in New York City on March 24th, and the state’s Presidential primary on April 28th, or whether to alter requirements for petition gathering for political candidates, which is going on right now.
He says officials are considering whether to close gambling casinos, and he says no decision has yet been made on restricting access to the State Capitol.
Meanwhile, the State Office of Court Administration announced that no new criminal trials will occur after next Monday March 16th, though ongoing proceedings will continue, including grand juries that have already been empanelled.
The courts also placed a moratorium on evictions. And New York is waiving the 7 day waiting period to collect unemployment insurance, as downturns at many types of businesses make lay offs more likely.
