Governor Hochul Updates New Yorkers on State's Progress Combating COVID-19 - JANUARY 20, 2023

 

Governor Encourages New Yorkers to Keep Using the Tools to Protect Against and Treat COVID-19: Vaccines, Boosters, Testing and Treatment

34 Statewide Deaths Reported on January 19

 Governor Kathy Hochul today updated New Yorkers on the state's progress combating COVID-19 and outlined basic steps they can take to protect against the spread of viral respiratory infections that become more common in the winter season. 

"I urge all New Yorkers to remain vigilant and continue to use all available tools to keep themselves, their loved ones and their communities safe and healthy," Governor Hochul said. "Be sure to stay up to date on vaccine doses, and test before gatherings or travel. If you test positive, talk to your doctor about potential treatment options."

Governor Hochul is urging New Yorkers to take common prevention measures — like staying up to date on vaccines and practicing proper hygiene — to protect from Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), the flu and COVID-19 and reduce the patient burden on local hospitals. The Governor reiterated these basic steps when she updated New Yorkers on the state's winter health preparedness efforts last month. 

Recently, the New York State Department of Health announced that the XBB.1.5. variant is now the most dominant strain in New York, accounting for more than 50 percent of COVID-19 infections statewide. Emerging at a time when both COVID-19 and flu cases remain high, early data indicates that XBB.1.5. is more transmissible than other circulating variants, though there isn't clear evidence of significant changes to the virulence or severity of disease. 

The New York State Department of Health's weekly flu surveillance report for the week ending January 14, shows influenza remaining widespread throughout the state for a fifteenth consecutive week, with a total of 300,907 positive cases across all 62 counties reported to date. The report found that confirmed cases statewide dropped 50 percent, while overall hospitalizations were down 52 percent from the previous week, at 798 hospitalizations across the state.

Additionally, there were 13 outbreaks in acute care and long-term care facilities, the report determined. There were two additional pediatric deaths, leaving the total at eight statewide.

With flu season continuing and infections remaining widespread, Governor Hochul encourages all New Yorkers to get their annual flu vaccine. The flu virus and the virus that causes COVID-19 are both circulating, so getting vaccinated against both is the best way to stay healthy and to avoid added stress to the health care system. 

The Health Department is continuing its annual public education campaign, reminding adults and parents to get both flu and COVID-19 shots for themselves and children 6 months and older. For information about flu vaccine clinics, contact the local health department or visit vaccines.gov/find-vaccines/. 

Governor Hochul also continues to urge New Yorkers to get their bivalent COVID-19 vaccine boosters. Recently, the New York State Department of Health announced new guidance for bivalent COVID-19 booster doses, which are now available for eligible children down to 6 months of age. 

The updated boosters are the first to be targeted to the original virus strain and recently circulating variants and are recommended for young New Yorkers and all those eligible. To schedule an appointment for a booster, New Yorkers should contact their local pharmacy, county health department, or healthcare provider; visit vaccines.gov; text their ZIP code to 438829, or call 1-800-232-0233 to find nearby locations. 

Today's data is summarized briefly below:  

•  Cases Per 100k - 20.65
•  7-Day Average Cases Per 100k - 18.16
•  Test Results Reported - 73,186
•  Total Positive - 4,036
•  Percent Positive - 4.84%
•  7-Day Average Percent Positive - 6.66%**
•  Patient Hospitalization - 3,260 (-109)
• Patients Newly Admitted - 509
• Patients in ICU - 354 (-25)
• Patients in ICU with Intubation - 133 (-2)
• Total Discharges - 391,435 (+566)
• New deaths reported by healthcare facilities through HERDS - 34
• Total deaths reported by healthcare facilities through HERDS - 61,035

** Due to the test reporting policy change by the federal Department of Health and Human Services and several other factors, the most reliable metric to measure virus impact on a community is the case per 100,000 data -- not percent positivity.   

The Health Electronic Response Data System is a NYS DOH data source that collects confirmed daily death data as reported by hospitals, nursing homes and adult care facilities only.   

Important Note: Effective Monday, April 4, the federal Department of Health and Human Services is no longer requiring testing facilities that use COVID-19 rapid antigen tests to report negative results. As a result, New York State's percent positive metric will be computed using only lab-reported PCR results. Positive antigen tests will still be reported to New York State and reporting of new daily cases and cases per 100k will continue to include both PCR and antigen tests. Due to this change and other factors, including changes in testing practices, the most reliable metric to measure virus impact on a community is the case per 100,000 data -- not percent positivity.  

• Total deaths reported to and compiled by the CDC - 77,564

This daily COVID-19 provisional death certificate data reported by NYS DOH and NYC to the CDC includes those who died in any location, including hospitals, nursing homes, adult care facilities, at home, in hospice and other settings.    

• Total vaccine doses administered - 43,612,327
• Total vaccine doses administered over past 24 hours - 10,366
• Total vaccine doses administered over past 7 days - 67,595
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 18 and older with completed vaccine series - 85.4%
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 18 and older with completed vaccine series (CDC) - 90.5% ​​​​​​​
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 18 and older who are up to date - 15.4%
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 12-17 with completed vaccine series - 74.4%
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 12-17 with completed vaccine series (CDC) - 76.1% 
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 12-17 who are up to date - 5.9%
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 5-11 with completed vaccine series - 39.9%
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 5-11 with completed vaccine series (CDC) - 40.7%
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 5-11 who are up to date - 3.3%
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 0-4 with completed vaccine series - 7.3%
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 0-4 who are up to date - 7.3%
• Percent of all New Yorkers with completed vaccine series - 76.4%
• Percent of all New Yorkers with completed vaccine series (CDC) - 80.6%
• Percent of all New Yorkers who are up to date - 13.2%

Each New York City borough's 7-day average percentage of positive test results reported over the last three days is as follows **:    

Borough	Tuesday,   January   17, 2023	Wed.  January   18, 2023	Thursday,   January   19, 2023
Bronx	8.19%	7.88%	7.65%
Kings	5.19%	5.93%	4.91%
New York	6.18%	6.21%	6.06%
Queens	8.01%	7.81%	7.46%
Richmond	6.83%	6.82%	6.52%

     

Attorney General James’ Office of Special Investigation Releases Report on Death of Delroy Morris

 

New York Attorney General Letitia James’ Office of Special Investigation (OSI) released its report on the death of Delroy Morris in Brooklyn. Following a thorough investigation, including review of security camera videos, radio transmissions, eyewitness accounts, and crash reconstruction analysis, OSI concluded that criminal charges are not warranted in this case.

On the night of July 25, 2020, two officers with the New York City Police Department (NYPD) responded to a 911 call reporting a man had been shot at the intersection of Wythe Avenue and Metropolitan Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The officers were driving westbound on Metropolitan Avenue in a marked NYPD vehicle with sirens and lights on. The officer driving the vehicle slowed down as he approached Driggs Avenue before driving through a steady red light, which is permitted under New York’s Vehicle and Traffic Laws when police officers are responding to an emergency. While crossing the intersection, the vehicle struck Mr. Morris, who was traveling south on Driggs Avenue on a motorcycle. Mr. Morris was thrown from the motorcycle, which landed underneath a car. Morris was transported to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead in the early morning hours of July 26, 2023.

The NYPD’s Collision Investigation Squad (CIS) reconstructed the collision and determined that the NYPD officer driving the vehicle was driving about 23 MPH, tapped the brakes before entering the intersection, and was not impaired. The officer submitted to an alcohol test following the incident, which was negative. The CIS determined that Mr. Morris was traveling between 37 and 49 MPH before the collision.

Under New York law, proving criminally negligent homicide requires establishing beyond a reasonable doubt that a person failed to perceive a substantial and unjustifiable risk that death would occur; that the failure to perceive the risk was a gross deviation from a reasonable person’s standard of care; and that the person engaged in blameworthy conduct. In this case, there is no evidence that the officer was engaging in unnecessarily risky behavior, nor that he was speeding or impaired, and therefore OSI concluded that criminal charges could not be pursued against the officer.

The NYPD’s patrol guide requires that if qualified to do so, the patrol supervisor must administer an alcohol test to any police officer involved in a collision that results in a death. The patrol supervisor who arrived at the scene minutes after the crash was not qualified to administer the test to the officer who was driving, so the officer was not breath-tested until two hours later, when CIS arrived. While there is no evidence the officer in question was impaired or intoxicated, OSI recommends that all patrol supervisors be trained in administering alcohol breath tests to avoid similar delays in the future.

The OSI also recommends that the NYPD require any officer whose job responsibilities include operating NYPD vehicles to requalify for emergency vehicle operator certification every five years. 

Man Pleads Guilty To Committing Multi-Million-Dollar Fraud Against Medicare By Selling Bogus Orders For Medical Equipment

 

 Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that MATTHEW TAYLOR WITKOWSKI pled guilty to a one-count criminal Information charging him with conspiracy to commit health care fraud.  WITKOWSKI is scheduled to be sentenced on April 20, 2023, before United States District Judge Denise Cote.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “Medicare is a valuable, taxpayer-funded program designed to provide affordable health care to people over 65 or with disabilities, not to enrich those who would seek to benefit themselves through fraud.  Matthew Taylor Witkowski admitted to illegally selling orders for durable medical equipment, which were used to bilk Medicare out of millions of dollars.”

According to the Information, statements made in court, and other publicly filed documents in this case:

From at least August 2019 through the date of his arrest in July 2022, WITKOWSKI and a co-conspirator (“CC-1”) engaged in a scheme to defraud Medicare by illegally obtaining and selling fraudulent written orders for goods and services paid for by Medicare, including for durable medical equipment (“DME”).  Using a call center that he owned and operated in the Dominican Republic, WITKOWSKI illegally generated and purchased fraudulent written orders for DME and then sold those fraudulent orders to pharmacies and DME suppliers, including in New York City.  Those pharmacies and DME suppliers then used those fraudulent orders as the basis for more than $8 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare.  Many of these fraudulent orders used names and personal health information of actual Medicare beneficiaries, without the beneficiaries’ authorization or prior knowledge.  Many of these fraudulent orders also contained professional information of doctors and other health-care providers enrolled in the Medicare program, as well as the purported electronic signatures of these providers, which were falsified and created without the authorization or knowledge of these providers.

During the course of the scheme, WITKOWSKI took more than $4 million in illegal kickbacks from DME suppliers, who made these payments to True Prospects Marketing, Inc., a company controlled by Witkowski and CC-1, and to Sales Drive Marketing LLC, a company owned and controlled by WITKOWSKI.

WITKOWSKI, 37, an American citizen who has been residing in the Dominican Republic, and is currently on bail in Florida, pled guilty today to a single count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud.  That charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. 

The maximum potential sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the sentencing judge.

Mr. Williams praised the investigative work of the Office of the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.