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Wednesday, January 6, 2021
Partnership for Parks - Bronx Newsblast-January 2021
Attorney General James Issues Warning About Scam Targeting Grandparents During Pandemic
“Grandparent Scam” Targets Seniors with Phone Calls from
Fraudsters Posing as Grandchild Asking for Money
With Seniors More Isolated Than Ever Due to COVID-19 Restrictions, AG James Offers New Yorkers Tips to Protect Themselves
New York Attorney General Letitia James today issued an alert to New Yorkers, warning them about the “Grandparent Scam,” a common phone scam that targets senior citizens with calls from fraudsters posing as a grandchild of the victim and asking for money. Attorney General James also shared a public service announcement, in which high school students explain how the scam works and offers tips on how to avoid becoming a victim to grandparents. The announcement features television personality Dr. Ruth Westheimer, who shares her experience about almost falling victim to the scam.
“Due to COVID-19 restrictions, many grandparents have not seen their grandchildren for months and may be especially susceptible to this common and despicable scam,” said Attorney General James. “I urge all New Yorkers to be on the alert for this type of fraud, and to protect themselves and their family members by following these tips. We should all be speaking with elderly family members and warning them that scammers are ready to prey on their love of family in an effort to take their money.”
The scam typically works as follows: A senior receives an unexpected call from someone who claims to be their grandchild. The caller then falsely claims that there is an emergency and asks the grandparent to immediately send money. For example, the caller might say, “Grandma, I got arrested for drunk driving. I need bail money fast.” Or the caller may claim to have been mugged, or that their car has broken down. The caller will often explicitly tell the grandparent not to call the grandchild’s parents because the parents will be mad or will worry too much. The caller may also pose as an attorney, a bail bondsperson, or a law enforcement official contacting the grandparent on behalf of a grandchild.
The scammers often call in the middle of the night or early in the morning to take advantage of the fact that the victim may not be alert enough to ask more questions. Victims are often instructed that they have to mail cash payments or go out and buy prepaid debit or gift cards and to call back and read the serial number on the cards, allowing the scammer to immediately transfer the funds. Victims often lose thousands of dollars and the money is rarely recovered, as the scammers can be calling from anywhere in the world. The scam is severely underreported, as many victims are often embarrassed and do not want to tell anyone that they fell for the scam.
Attorney General James offers the following tips to protect against the Grandparent Scam:
- Take a pause. Scammers create a sense of urgency to prey on victims’ emotions and their love for family members.
- Verify any supposed emergency by calling friends and family before sending money. This is especially important if a potential victim has been warned not to do so.
- A grandparent may think they would know whether they were speaking to their own grandchild or to an imposter, but it is easy to be fooled. The caller may be crying or the background may be noisy, or the caller may claim the connection is bad.
- If the caller purports to be a bail bondsperson, ask where the relative is being held and contact the facility directly. Grandparents can also call their local police department, where officers may be able to call the jail and confirm the story.
- Be suspicious of anyone who calls unexpectedly asking to be sent money.
- Never send cash through the mail.
- Never purchase pre-paid debit cards or gift cards for the purpose of transferring money.
- Develop a secret code or “password” with family members that can be used to verify the identity of family members over the phone.
- Ask a question that only the real grandchild would know the answer to, such as “what was the name of your first pet?”
- Set Facebook and other social media settings to private to limit information available to scammers, such as the name of grandchildren.
In 2020, the Federal Trade Commission received 24,545 complaints of individuals impersonating family members and friends, up from 20,234 in 2019. New Yorkers alone filed 1,359 complaints in 2020.
Additional information about the Grandparent Scam can be found on the Office of the Attorney General’s website. New Yorkers who have been targeted by this scam are urged to file a complaint by completing and submitting a Consumer Frauds and Protection Bureau online complaint form or by calling (800) 771-7755.
Tuesday, January 5, 2021
Governor Cuomo Updates New Yorkers on COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Efforts
911,000 Vaccines Will Be Distributed to Providers By End of Week
Total of 3,762 Vaccination Sites Currently Enrolled as Part of StatewideNetwork of Administration Sites
636 Sites Statewide Currently Vaccinating Eligible New Yorkers
Essential Worker Groups - Police, Fire, Education and Transit Workers - Encouraged to Begin Developing Vaccination Plans for Workforce Vaccination When General Public Becomes Eligible to Receive Vaccine
Governor Renews Call for Federal Government to Mandate COVID-19 Testing for All International Travelers Entering the U.S.
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today updated New Yorkers on the state's COVID-19 vaccine distribution efforts. By the end of this week, the state will have distributed approximately 911,000 first doses of the vaccine to providers for administration to eligible New Yorkers. Additionally, the Governor announced that to date, 3,762 providers have applied and been approved by the state to serve as vaccination sites. Currently, 636 locations are now activated and are able to begin vaccinating eligible New Yorkers. To prepare for the next phase of eligibility, the Governor is encouraging essential worker groups such as police departments, fire departments, educators, and public transit organizations to begin developing plans to vaccinate their workforce. Plans will ease the burden on hospitals and other vaccination locations when the general public becomes eligible to receive a vaccine.
In addition, the Governor renewed his call on the federal government to test all travelers from outside the United States. Despite the fact that the highly transmissible UK strain has been identified in 33 countries, as well as here in the state of New York, the federal government has yet to learn from mistakes made in the spring and mandate testing for international travelers entering the country.
"The vaccine is the weapon that will win this war and we must move quickly and efficiently to get New Yorkers vaccinated as soon they become eligible," Governor Cuomo said. "All health care workers can now receive the vaccine and the state is working around the clock to ensure resources are in place as more and more members of the general public become eligible to receive it. While these efforts are underway, the UK strain of the virus remains highly problematic - it is here and it could complicate matters further, as it is much more transmissible. Despite all of this, the federal government continues its refusal to test all international travelers entering the country. Government is supposed to be competent, government leaders are supposed to be competent. We already saw this situation play out in the spring - have we learned nothing?"
New York is working around the clock to distribute vaccines to eligible groups as fairly and expeditiously as possible. Work is also under way to prepare for widespread vaccination of the general public once allowable under state guidelines. As part of this work, New York has worked with the public and private sectors across the state to develop a 'retail network' of vaccination provider sites. Similar to operations for the annual distribution of the influenza vaccine and ongoing COVID-19 testing, these sites will help ensure access to the vaccine through multiple locations in each of the state's 10 regions. The network includes pharmacies, federally-qualified health centers, local health departments, private urgent care clinics, private doctor networks, and other sites capable of vaccinations. More sites continue to be added to the network every day.
In an effort to take pre-emptive steps to ensure this network of sites does not become immediately overwhelmed once the vaccine is available to the general public, the Governor is also encouraging essential worker groups such as police departments, fire departments, educators, and public transit organizations to begin developing plans for their workforce if possible. The more groups of essential workers able to receive vaccines through internal distribution plans, the more availability there will be for those New Yorkers seeking the vaccine through the 'retail network.'
To further bolster these plans, New York is continuing to move forward on a number of special efforts to ensure resources are in place to facilitate widespread vaccination, especially in underserved communities. Pop-up vaccination centers will be established to facilitate public vaccinations. The state is also identifying public facilities and convention centers to also be used as vaccination centers. This includes the Javits Center, as well as SUNY and CUNY facilities. The state is also actively recruiting retired nurses, doctors and pharmacists to support vaccine administrations.
A main focus of these efforts is ensuring vaccine access in underserved communities and health care deserts. The state has already begun building Community Vaccination Kits and working with public housing officials, churches, and community centers to support these efforts and deploy kits to the appropriate locations. Each kit includes step-by-step instructions for how to set up a site, and critical supplies and equipment such as:
- Office Supplies
- Workstation Equipment
- Communications Equipment
- Cleaning Supplies
- Lighting Equipment
- PPE
- Crowd/Traffic Control Equipment
- Vials
- Syringes
- Room Dividers
- Privacy Curtains
NEW YORK CITY CONTINUES TO RAMP UP VACCINATION CAPACITY CITYWIDE
New mass vaccination centers across the five boroughs to rapidly accelerate capacity for vaccination
Mayor Bill de Blasio today announced that New York City plans to open five large-scale vaccination centers in the coming weeks, which will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to move towards a cumulative capacity of up to 100,000 vaccine doses per week. Two sites will be operational beginning this weekend. The City also continues to call on State and Federal partners to open up the eligibility criteria so New York City can immediately begin vaccinating more New Yorkers, and accelerate the speed of vaccine manufacturing to ensure we have sufficient supply to rapidly reach all New Yorkers as soon as possible.
“We need to cut through red tape and get as many shots in arms as possible,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “With mass vaccination centers, we will be providing 24/7 vaccination in all five boroughs and dramatically increasing the pace of vaccination. This is a race against the clock, and we need our State and Federal partners to give us the flexibility and supply we need to reach the maximum number of people as quickly as possible.”
What New York City Needs from the Federal Government:
To make the case for fast and decisive Federal action, which would help to get the vaccine to more New Yorkers sooner, Mayor de Blasio wrote a letter directly to Vice President Pence in his capacity as the head of Operation: Warp Speed, which is available here, outlining the City’s immediate needs and key steps to address each one:
- Increased speed of vaccine manufacturing
- A fair share of the vaccine
- Advance notice of allocation
- Flexibility with distribution populations
- Faster vaccination of nursing home residents, staff
- Equal reimbursement for vaccination and testing
- FDA approval to pre-fill syringes with vaccine
Full Travel Ban
The Mayor also called for a full travel ban from the United Kingdom to New York City, as the new COVID-19 strain continues to spread. Although it has not yet been detected in New York City, New York State reported its first case of the new strain yesterday in Saratoga Springs.
“In our City’s historic vaccine campaign, which represents our final push against the COVID-19 pandemic, every tool has to be on the table, as we work to go as far and as fast as we can connecting New Yorkers with the safe, easy, and free vaccine,” said Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Melanie Hartzog. “By standing up large-scale vaccination locations, we’re aiming to dramatically increase our capacity to ramp up this process quickly – underscoring what we could do with greater clarity and advanced notice on eligible populations. We’re excited to expand our efforts even further and look forward to sharing more details soon as we explore the full scope of what our City can do once given a real green light.”
“This is an all-hands effort that will require every part of the government to pitch in,” said Health Commissioner Dr. Dave A. Chokshi. “The City is focused on capacity as we open as many places for people to get vaccinated as possible. Every access point is critical.”
MAYOR DE BLASIO SIGNS "JUST CAUSE" WORKER PROTECTION BILLS FOR FAST FOOD EMPLOYEES
Mayor de Blasio today signed two bills expanding protections for fast food workers in New York City. Together, these bills protect fast food workers from being fired without "just cause" or for a bona fide economic reason.” These bills build upon the existing Fair Workweek enforcement via private right of action and by the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP), while also creating a new arbitration program for workers. The bills also update the Fair Workweek laws to incorporate the new wrongful discharge provisions into the existing scheduling and access-to-hours hiring protections for fast food workers.
“A strong, fair recovery starts with protecting working people,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “These bills will provide crucial job stability and protections for fast food workers on the front lines. I thank Council Members Adams and Lander for sponsoring these bills and 32BJ SEIU for their advocacy.”
Int. 1415-A (Lander): After an initial probation period of 30 days, fast food employers may not discharge an employee or reduce their average hours by more than 15 percent without “just cause.” Just cause is failure to satisfactorily perform job duties or engaging in misconduct that is harmful to the fast food employer’s legitimate business interests. In order for an employer to fire an employee based on “just cause” they must have utilized a progressive discipline policy and applied it consistently.
Int. 1396-A (Adams) allows employers with a bona fide economic reason to lay off an employee, so long as it is done in reverse order of seniority. Employees laid off for economic reason within the last year are entitled to reinstatement or restoration of before new employees are hired. In addition to DCWP enforcement and a private right of action, this bill establishes a new arbitration process overseen by DCWP for employees to enforce their rights.
“Fast food is a low-wage industry that has treated its predominately minority workforce as if they were disposable,” said Deputy Mayor for Strategic Policy Initiatives J. Phillip Thompson. “That treatment ends today with the signing of this bill that will protect workers from being fired on a whim, bringing security to the lives of thousands of hardworking New Yorkers.”
“No worker should be left jobless for unjust reasons – especially not in the middle of a pandemic and after all the risks they have borne on behalf of all of us. While so many New Yorkers are out of work, we need to protect the jobs of essential workers like fast food workers who have helped carry us through the crisis to this point. The Department of Consumer and Worker Protection will work with the business community to ensure that this important new protection will lead to better jobs that benefit everyone in the fast food industry,” said Department of Consumer and Worker Protection Commissioner Lorelei Salas.
“Fast food workers have been on the front lines of this pandemic, serving their neighbors, working in tight quarters, taking on new responsibilities for sanitizing, and yet often unable to speak up about health and safety issues for fear of losing their jobs. And fast-food workers have been on the front lines of the fight for justice in the workplace as well, from the Fight for $15, to paid sick days, to fair scheduling, transforming low-wage, unstable jobs into dignified work people can rely on. I’m so proud that today New York City is the first place in the country to grant them ‘just cause’ employment protections, giving these essential but long-disrespected workers the job stability and dignity they deserve. Their victory will serve as a model to build a fairer economy,” said Council Member Brad Lander.
"With the bold action taken by City Council and Mayor de Blasio, NYC is setting an example for the entire country on how to step up and protect low-wage workers,” said 32BJ SEIU President Kyle Bragg. “There are nearly 70,000 fast food workers in New York City who are on the frontlines of the pandemic but who, until now, didn't have economic security because they could be fired or have their hours cut for no reason and without recourse. These laws will end the instability and indignity that frontline fast food workers have faced for too long."
SEIU International President Mary Kay Henry said, "New York City is the first city in the country to pass Just Cause protections that stop billion-dollar fast-food corporations from unfairly firing workers. This incredible win for working families shows the power fast food workers have built together. SEIU's 2 million members will continue to stand with fast food workers demanding respect us, protect us, and pay us, as cities across the country follow New York City’s lead and turn fast food jobs into secure, family-sustaining jobs."
Comptroller Stringer Proposes Recommendations to Expedite COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout across New York City and Utilize Every Available Dose
Calls on the City to move more quickly to vaccinate as many New Yorkers as possible and utilize every available dose – including creating “standby’’ lists of high-risk individuals, developing a central database of information, and doubling down on outreach to communities to disseminate crucial information on eligibility and vaccination sites
Comptroller Stringer: “It is our obligation to do everything in our capacity to ensure the City’s role in the vaccine distribution is unassailable.”
New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer sent a letter to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio calling on the City to streamline and expedite the vaccination of as many New Yorkers as possible and to utilize every available dose. The letter comes amid concerning data indicating only 25 percent of total vaccines allocated to the city have been administered citywide and only 31 percent of vaccines allocated to the city’s public hospital system have been administered, as compared to more than 90 percent administered by some private hospitals. Comptroller Stringer called on the City to act with urgency to vaccinate healthcare workers, nursing home residents, staff and residents of congregate care settings and other frontline New Yorkers; create a robust centralized database to track demand and usage; and increase outreach to disseminate crucial information on eligibility and vaccination sites.
Comptroller Stringer outlined recommendations for an expeditious and equitable vaccine rollout program:
- In situations where bottlenecks or other delays develop in the distribution of shots, the City must be ready to administer shots to “standby” lists of high-risk individuals. While the City may not yet have State permission to vaccinate beyond the current phases, it must be gathering names of willing participants from subsequent phases to immediately vaccinate as soon as the City gains permission.
- Develop a database that can be used to help the large and diverse networks of hospitals, community health centers, primary care physicians, pharmacists, and urgent care clinics report and track demand and usage. Given the real logistical challenges of deploying vaccines with stringent storage requirements and an uncertain supply chain, centralized reporting, procurement and stock management would help by allowing the city to forecast citywide needs more clearly, allocate and potentially redistribute vaccine doses where they will be needed, and provide targeted technical, administrative and financial assistance as needed, to ensure all providers can meet their vaccine demands quickly, efficiently, and effectively.
- Double down on outreach to New Yorkers. Misinformation, mistrust, and vaccine hesitancy continue to plague rollout and uptake of the vaccine. The City must increase investment into public education and communication campaigns to increase uptake, especially by enlisting community leaders, trust agents, and other influencers to relay messaging about the safety and efficacy of the vaccine. Additionally, the City should immediately and widely publicize information on who is eligible, where to receive vaccinations, and how to advance register people.
The full text of the letter can be found below and here.
Re: COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout
Dear Mayor de Blasio,
After months of waiting, unprecedented social, emotional, and economic hardship, and thousands of deaths caused by COVID-19, the prospect of widely available vaccines has offered New Yorkers new hope for the end of the pandemic and the resumption of normal life. The moment demands a vaccine rollout that is transparent, expeditious and equitable, but I am concerned that early delays in utilizing our initial allotment of vaccines have left New Yorkers confused and concerned about our vaccination plan. Your goal of distributing one million doses by January and adding 250 vaccination sites is a good start to the rollout; however, New Yorkers deserve more information and better communication about the programs and policies that will enable the City to make that commitment achievable, and not just an aspiration. While the City’s plan must be guided by Federal and State directives about the triaging of the vaccine, our foremost priority must be getting as many shots in arms as possible, particularly before the arrival of the hyper-contagious COVID-19 variant now circulating in the United States.
I am alarmed by data indicating that only 25% of the total vaccine allocation delivered to sites around the city have been administered to people. I am especially concerned that the foundation of our city’s healthcare system, NYC Health+Hospitals, has only administered 31% of its vaccine allocation, while several private hospital systems have administered upwards of 90%. Reports of vaccine doses languishing in freezers rather than being deployed to those that need them should be as unacceptable to you as they are to me and every New Yorker. We need to act with more urgency to get help to healthcare workers and vulnerable New Yorkers, such as nursing home residents, staff and residents of congregate care settings, and other frontline and at-risk individuals. I hope that the coming days will see the maximum number of possible doses administered. While I appreciate the need to supply second booster shots, we should not be reserving existing stock for this second round of vaccinations. Our private systems are not doing so and neither should our public ones, and arguments otherwise simply perpetuate structural inequity in our health systems and in our city.
I would urge you to consider several suggestions for how to better logistically coordinate a vaccination plan that can move as quickly as possible to reach as many New Yorkers as possible:
In situations where bottlenecks or other delays develop in the distribution of shots, the City must be ready to administer shots to a “standby” cohort of high risk individuals. While the City may not yet have State permission to vaccinate beyond the current phase, it should be gathering names of willing participants to immediately vaccinate upon permission. Many states are doing just this — vaccinating high-risk elderly patients and maintaining waiting lists and registries so that unused vaccine stock can be deployed rapidly. I believe DOHMH should be starting outreach now to eligible cohorts in each phase and urgently organizing community healthcare providers and social service CBOs to create standby registries. These organizations have worked tirelessly on the frontlines during this crisis, but they will need resources and guidance to develop uniform registries that can allow the vaccine to get quickly to their staffs and high-risk clients.
The City should develop a database that can be used to help the large and diverse networks of hospitals, community health centers, primary care physicians, pharmacists, and urgent care clinics report and track demand and usage. As we’ve learned from our testing operations, real time data is crucial to ensuring an effective response to this virus. Given the real logistical challenges of deploying vaccines with stringent storage requirements and an uncertain supply chain, centralized reporting, procurement and stock management would help by allowing the city to forecast citywide needs more clearly, allocate and potentially redistribute vaccine doses where they will be needed, and provide targeted technical, administrative and financial assistance as needed, to ensure all providers can meet their vaccine demands quickly, efficiently, and effectively. To the maximum extent possible, providers should know with as much advance notice as possible the number of doses they can expect, on what schedule.
We must double down on our outreach to New Yorkers. Misinformation, mistrust, and vaccine hesitancy continue to plague the rollout and uptake of the vaccine. The City must increase investment into public education and communication campaigns to increase uptake, especially by enlisting community leaders, trusted agents, and other influencers to relay messaging about the safety and efficacy of the vaccine. Additionally, the City should immediately and widely publicize information on who is eligible, where to receive vaccinations, and how to register people in advance (per the first recommendation above). With case and death tolls continuing to mount, our health systems becoming increasingly stretched thin, and a long winter ahead, the City must be in constant communication with residents about how the vaccines are being rolled out and when different categories of New Yorkers are eligible to register for waiting lists, walk-ins, or make appointments to get vaccinated.
Of course, I recognize that the City’s response depends on a consistent supply of vaccine from the federal government, the ability to expand the reach of our rollout to new categories of New Yorkers, and the cooperation of private partners. As the epicenter of the crisis, New York deserves all the help it can get. However, it is our obligation to do everything in our capacity to ensure the City’s role in the vaccine distribution is swift, equitable and organized. I urge you to consider these suggestions and hope they will be incorporated into the City’s plan.
Sincerely,
Scott M. Stringer