Friday, April 10, 2020

MAYOR DE BLASIO ON COVID-19 - April 10, 2020


  Mayor Bill de Blasio: Before we get started, I just wanted you to see this. This is what one of the hospital beds will look like here in the center opening today. And again, a lot of you were here eight, nine days ago – it was all tennis courts. And I want to just thank everyone who did this work so quick. I'll talk about some of them in a moment, but this is an amazing transformation. When we were here, it felt like, you know, normal times – a sports facility. I heard they were going to change it and get it ready quickly. I didn't expect this much to happen so vividly. I mean, this is amazing that this was all here now, ready to see the first patient coming in today. It’s going to build out quickly. I wanted you to just see that out of a tennis court suddenly we have a hospital and it's a testament to everyone who has been doing this work that they could do this so quickly and so effectively.

I also want to say meeting the medical personnel was very, very moving. These are folks who reminded me of the experience I've had in the last few days meeting the military medical personnel. These are civilians, but they came here because they love New York City and they wanted to help New York City in our hour of need. They came here because they knew this was the epicenter of a national crisis. And in fact, the group that is joining us here, the doctors and nurses, all the medical personnel that are here, they understood exactly that they were coming here to relieve Elmhurst Hospital and Queens Hospital that had been through the toughest stuff of any hospitals. And they wanted to be a part of that fight, they wanted to help where the need was greatest. And I went around and asked people where they're from and we have a lot of people from Florida, South Carolina. We had folks from Oregon, just talked to the guy from Omaha, Nebraska who said he left his wife and three children because he knew – he told them this was something he had to do for his country and for the country's largest city, and he'll be back when this fight is over. But he did it because he cared about saving lives here. And the most interesting of all was a woman from Anchorage, Alaska, who has come all the way here to help folks in need in Queens. So, it was very, very moving.

So, everybody, let me start – there we go – let me start by saying obviously today on Good Friday, it's a very holy time of year for so many New Yorkers. People are celebrating Passover. Today, Good Friday, Easter is this Sunday. For so many New Yorkers, it is a time of year that in normal times we look forward to, we plan the whole year around, and what do we think of, we think of not only faith and not only tradition and things that guide us in good times and bad, but we think of our families. We think of those gatherings that are some of our fondest moments every year. The things we really remember and feel throughout our lives. Every one of us. When I say to you, think about Easter, think about Passover, you have memories going back your whole life, your childhood, and for the first time that I can remember for so many families, we can't do that. And thank God people are using, you know, FaceTime and Skype and Zoom and whatever they can get their hands on to connect with each other. But it's not the same. It's painful to not have that closeness to each other the way we're used to. But there's something about this time of year that I believe is fortifying and strengthening New Yorkers because we're listening to the meaning of those stories, of scripture, and of all the traditions, and of all the family rituals, everything that we've known all our lives in some way prepared us for today. And when you look at faith and when you look at the lessons, so many of them are about people fighting adversity, fighting overwhelming odds, trying to find something in themselves that was strong and good even when faced with massive challenges. And the message through all of our faiths is to love each other, to support each other, to be charitable to each other, to understand each other, to feel empathy for each other. All of the faiths come back to that.

So this is a time that we could be angry. We have every right to be angry and frustrated. We can't do the things we're used to and we need our families right now so much and we can't have that connection the same way and yet all that we've learned from our families, all that we've learned from our faiths and our traditions was telling us exactly how to persevere in a moment like this, to dig deep and find that wellspring of hope and belief and that ability to be there for each other. And that's what New Yorkers are doing. I keep saying the heroes are everyday New Yorkers who are finding a way to do things I think we would have thought literally impossible. The people who turned this tennis center into a hospital in a matter of days, the people who every day are protecting and serving us. The first responders, the health care workers, all these people going so far above and beyond, but it's the everyday people who are helping us turn the tide and fight back this disease. The everyday people deserve credit, to everyday New Yorkers who are taking to heart this common mission, 8.6 million people, the most diverse place on Earth with one goal in common to fight back this disease and save each other. That's what I'm seeing every day. And then to know that help is always coming from the rest of our nation, that only reminds us further that our faith is well placed in each other.

So, here we celebrate against the backdrop of pain, the goodness in each other. And it brings us right back to this place that was a tennis center and now is a hospital. So, we're right here in the epicenter of this disease and we've learned a lot in the last few days. Sometimes we face a challenge or crisis and we say everyone is equally affected. Sometimes a crisis is the great equalizer. Well, that's not true with the coronavirus. Yes, every community is affected. No doubt, every ZIP code, every neighborhood, so many families of every background. True. All of New York is suffering. We all know someone who has been lost. We all know people who are sick. We all know families that are suffering. But in the last few days, the disparities are sharper and clearer than ever before. And unfortunately, this disease has found every problem in our society, every inequality and gone right deep into it and exacerbated it. And so here in Queens we see that folks who are low income are suffering. Folks who have not had enough access to health care because health care is still given out according to how much money you have in this country, and especially immigrant New Yorkers have suffered some because of language barrier, but many I am convinced because they've been pushed away in recent years from the support that they deserve just as human beings and New Yorkers, they've been told to be afraid because of what's happening all over our country. A lot of them had been so fearful, whether it's an ICE raid or any effort to take away their rights, their benefits, the things their family depended on. A lot of folks have turned inward out of fear. There's no question in my mind that's part of what's happening here and part of why this part of Queens has been hit so hard.

Everyone at Elmhurst Hospital, Queens Hospital have been just amazing heroes in this fight. We need to support them all the way through. No one thinks this is going to be over soon. It's going to take a lot more fight but getting them some relief, a place like this, to draw off some of the patients, getting them the military medical personnel who have served so nobly already, all of that is helping us against the backdrop of those horrible disparities. It's helping us to make sure that one thing is fair and equal, that every New Yorker will be treated the same. When they come to get health care, they will get it regardless of ZIP code, regardless of background, regardless of ability to pay, no one will be turned away. That's what we believe in. That is what we are doing.

So here, this originally was going to be a 350-bed facility. The team here has done an outstanding job. They are now going to create a 470-bed facility. Last week we believed there would not be capacity for ICU beds. Now they are adding ICU beds – 20 to begin with. As I said, first wards, beds opening today, first patients coming today, and then they'll build out in the coming days. I want to thank everyone, all the good working people who did the work to get this ready. All our good friends at the Department of Parks and Recreation, a lot of parks workers while being careful and practicing the right distancing, they did the work. A lot of work was needed around the site to get ready and they did it. I want to thank all of them and I want to thank them for also helping all of us to stay safe by the work they're doing in the parks to keep everyone enjoying them, but the right way. I want to thank Danny Zausner, the COO of the Billie Jean King Center who's been a fantastic partner in this and his whole team. Billy Sullivan, the CEO of SLSCO, the contractor that's worked to put this together. Thank you to Billy and his whole team. Obviously, Commissioner Deanne Criswell and everyone at Emergency Management, Dr. Mitch Katz and everyone at Health + Hospitals, and the Department of Design and Construction that jumped in here to help make things happen quickly and they're doing the same at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal. Thank you to Lorraine Grillo and Jamie Torres Springer and everyone at DDC.

So, New Yorkers have watched as we've transformed – all of us, the City, the State, FEMA, everyone together transformed sites that we think of in everyday life and now they're all turning into medical sites. The Javits Center, of course, up and running the Coler Center on Roosevelt Island, that was a medical site, but one that was not full, now filling up rapidly, relieving the pressure on other H + H facilities. This site in Queens, the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal next week. All of this is building capacity. Now I want to emphasize, even though we are seeing some progress, and we are, we don't know what comes next. With this horrible disease one thing we've learned is to expect the unexpected. So I warned yesterday, you never know when you get a resurgence, you never know if it doesn't move in a straight line. So, we want capacity ready, no matter what and let us pray we don't need some of these facilities to be as much for medical use. Where are we going ahead to those phases I described yesterday with low transmission or no transmission, you need a lot of capacity to quarantine people and isolate people to make that work. So facilities like this, if they're not needed for medical, will be turned into quarantine and isolation facilities to help people get through their own experience with the disease while making sure we don't infect the other members of their family or the people in their life.

So this good work is going to help us hopefully only for a limited time on the medical side, but very much in our progress in fighting this disease as we go into the next phase of low-level transmission. Again, we're not there yet. We're not going to ever suggest we're there until we're there, but we're going to be planning for that phase and this facility will be a part of that phase too. It was said throughout, the goal is to always make sure if we need to, our hospitals can keep building out more and more ICU capacity. They've been doing that. They're going to keep doing that until we're sure that it's not needed. And other kinds of patients would come to places like this.

Now, yesterday I talked about the fact that if we're going to make that next big move – maybe it starts in May, maybe it starts in June – to that low level of transmission, we will need testing and we will need a lot of testing and we'll need more testing than we have right now. And the federal government must step up. We must have not only the antibody testing, which is certainly valuable. We need the traditional coronavirus testing to be able to really implement a strategy to achieve low level transmission and start to get us back to normal. So, I'm going to keep calling on the federal government to focus and produce large scale widespread testing for this country so we can get to the next phase, so we can really start to normalize over time.

But once again, while we're waiting for the federal government to act, we see others coming forward. We've seen private companies come forward in an amazing way. And we're also seeing our colleagues around the country in public life come forward. And this is a beautiful story – a guy I've gotten to know, he's part of the leadership of the U. S. Conference of Mayors, so I've worked with him on the leadership body of the conference of mayors for years now and really like him and really respect him. Mayor Jim Brainard of Carmel, Indiana – this man has been mayor for a long time in Carmel, Indiana. He's someone I respect greatly for what he’s achieved. I've been to his city. He's done amazing things there. In the spirit of bipartisanship, I will let you know that he is a Republican and someone who, as we talk together, our partisan differences melt away all the time. He's someone that I just respect as a good public servant who cares about people. Well, he made the great decision to make sure that his city would help New York City. And we've seen that before, we saw that the Governor of Oregon, Kate Brown; the Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, helped make sure that more ventilators would be available for New York. Well now, Carmel, Indiana steps up and they're sending us some of the components that will be needed to provide 50,000 coronavirus tests to New Yorkers that'll be coming over the next few weeks. We’re going to need other components to make it work, and we talked about this yesterday, used the analogy of making a cup of coffee with cream and sugar – we’re going to need all the different pieces. But what Jim is sending us is going to help us immensely. And with the other pieces in place, we'll be able to reach 50,000 New Yorkers. So, Jim, and everyone in Carmel, I want to thank you. It is wonderful to see the support from the heartland of our country. You're doing something really important for New York City. We're all feeling it, especially at this holiday season. We are so appreciative for your wonderful kind gesture and it's going to help save lives here in New York City. So, God bless you all. Let's see if our federal government can be as effective as Mayor Jim Brainard in Carmel, Indiana in getting us testing.

Another important piece of the puzzle will be thermometers. Going forward, as we move into lower-level transmission thermometers are big part of it, because you will do a lot more monitoring of people. But in the meantime, we are delivering more and more thermometers to our agencies, our city agencies to make sure we're constantly testing. Folks are on the front line, doing such vital works – so there’s thermometer's now that have been delivered to our Department of Education enrichment centers for the children of first responders and health care workers. Thermometers have been delivered to the Department of Corrections; to the Administration for Children's Services for the work they do, including the juvenile detention work; to our 9-1-1 call centers, which is so important, because they're keeping so much running; obviously, for first responders as well – a central goal to make sure they get whatever support they need. So, today we're delivering thermometers to every NYPD precinct and headquarters and command office, to every firehouse at the FDNY, to every sanitation garage. And we'll keep delivering more and more as we get them. We’re getting in a big supply, going forward, and we've got to keep getting them out around so we can maximize that kind of monitoring and support people.

One other point, and this is about – I've talked about the way the coronavirus attacks our health, but also hurts us, fights us in another way. It's taken away our livelihoods. So many New Yorkers are struggling right now. I hear from people all the time who are, right now, running out of the little money they had. The last paycheck is long gone. So, we must protect people. We must protect people when it comes to their health and we have to protect them when it comes to just being able to live life, to have a roof over your head, to have enough food to eat. We've got to protect people in every way and we will in this city. We will not let any New Yorker go without the help they need. So, I have to say, when you think about the reality of people just not having enough money for food, for medicine, for the rent, and this many people, hundreds of thousands, unemployed at the same time – my heart goes out to every family dealing with this pain, because just weeks ago your life was pretty normal and then bang, it's gone. And the shock, the pain, but also the fear – I'm hearing the fear everywhere. People are literally wondering, am I going to be able to stay in my home? Am I going to be able to get enough food? So, my message is we will keep everybody – keep a roof over your head, protect you, make sure you have the food to eat. We will do that. The City of New York will have your back. We're making sure there's no evictions, and that's a start, but we have to go farther. So, I had asked the State of New York to consider for over 2 million New Yorkers who are in rent stabilized apartments, and that's governed by a Rent Guidelines Board – I asked the State as a legal matter to suspend that board so we could achieve a rent freeze. There were complex legal matters and the State wasn't sure if that was the right approach, so I have made the decision that we will proceed with the Rent Guidelines Board process. We'll do it all remotely. We'll do it quickly in the coming weeks, but I am calling upon the Rent Guidelines Board today to issue a rent freeze to ensure that New Yorkers that are going through the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression and were covered by the jurisdiction of the Rent Guidelines Board – again, that's over 2 million of us – that all of those good New Yorkers who are struggling right now get a rent freeze, because, Lord knows, people do not need another burden at this moment. And I want to see the Rent Guidelines Board act quickly, to say the least. If you look at the facts – and I do give the board credit, they've always looked at the facts, the objective facts – look at the facts, the greatest economic crisis in generations and hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers with no livelihood overnight. I think the facts are clear and we need that rent freeze and we need it now.

I also say again to the State of New York, please act quickly. Let New Yorkers who can't afford the rent pay it with their security deposit. That's going to take a legal change. I'm asking the State to do that right away, so folks who have no money can draw upon that security deposit to pay the rent right now. By the way, for a lot of landlords, they would applaud that too, because if the tenant has no money, they have no money and, therefore, the landlord can't get the money they need to pay the bills either. Let's unleash those security deposits for the good of all.

Let me close, and I'll say a few words in Spanish, and then we'll take questions from the media, but close with this. And we talked about faith in the beginning, I talked about what the season means to all of us, people of different faiths. But it's also clear, it's a moment that tries us and challenges us so deeply and makes us fearful and makes us doubtful. It's a moment that tests our faith, but whatever your faith is, whatever you believe, whatever your values, it's a moment to lean into them even more strongly. This is a week where we reach milestones we could never have imagined – 5,000 New Yorkers lost – so many more than we even lost on our worst day of 9/11 – a number we literally can hardly imagine. And every single one of the people we lost, a human story, a family grieving. At some point today, we will get to the point of 100,000 cases that have occurred in New York City – 100,000 cases of coronavirus, a disease that literally did not exist six months ago in the experience of human beings all over the globe, and now 100,000 New Yorkers infected. And that's only the ones we know about. It's likely that hundreds of thousands more have already experienced this disease that we don't even know have gone through it. But, thank God, so many – the vast, vast, vast majority survived. So, it's a moment where we could be doubtful. No one could be blamed for being doubtful. And we don't have a roadmap here – there's no one who has a roadmap, this is the great unknown. But our faith, our belief, our values, our humanity should continue to guide us. And what I've seen these last weeks, I don't think New Yorkers could have done anything better or more heroic than what they've done. I think every one of you should be proud of how you all have answered the call in one way or another. I think people all over the world are looking at New York City with renown – with renewed admiration. People all over the world are feeling a new respect, a new admiration, a new love for New York City. I think we've always been a place that people felt something special for. There's always been a sense that New York City was an expression of the best of humanity, but what all of you have done is proven even more deeply and the world watches with admiration, the world is applauding. Let's show the entire world that we will complete this mission, that we will stay true to the lessons we've learned, we'll go even more intensely into the work we're doing together to protect each other, and that's how we'll come out of this together.

Councilman Mark Gjonaj - Update on the Coronavirus Pandemic - April 10, 2020



Dear Friends:

As we are in the midst of the Passover and Easter holidays, the time of renewal and rebirth, we wish you and your families love, peace, health and hope.

Although it looks like we have hit the plateau in New York and there are good signs that social distancing is working, hospitalization and ICU rates are stabilizing and ventilator use is lower than projected, we must continue to do our part by staying home to stop the spread and protect our loved ones as well as essential workers and the most vulnerable.

I hope this Coronavirus Newsletter Update is helping you and your family with many important services and information. As always, to ensure you receive the best assistance, my office will continue to provide help remotely to residents in the district. Please contact us by phone at (718) 931-1721 or email at MGjonaj@council.nyc.gov.

And while I am certain that our city will be stronger in the face of this pandemic, I want to express my condolences to those who have lost family and friends during this time and my thoughts and prayers go out to those who are continuing the fight against the virus. We are thankful for our healthcare workers, first responders and essential employees who put their lives on the line every day to save and protect all of us. We are forever indebted to them. We're all in this together!

Sincerely,

NYC Councilman Mark Gjonaj
District 13, Bronx

MAYOR DE BLASIO AND SPEAKER JOHNSON ANNOUNCE $25 MILLION IN EMERGENCY FUNDING FOR FOOD PROVIDERS


MONEY WILL GO TO PROVIDERS AS THEY DEAL WITH CHALLENGES CAUSED BY COVID-19

  Mayor Bill de Blasio and Speaker Corey Johnson today announced that the City will provide $25 million in emergency funding to emergency food providers across New York City. This funding is being allocated as part of a new, ongoing partnership between the de Blasio Administration and the City Council to help emergency food providers deal with the challenges of COVID-19 pandemic. 
  
“No one should have to question where their next meal is coming from. As we face this crisis head on, we remain committed to feeding all New Yorkers in need,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. "Providing emergency funding is crucial to keeping our food providers up and running. I thank Speaker Johnson for his advocacy and partnership in securing food resources for all New Yorkers." 

“We thank the de Blasio administration for moving quickly on the Council's calls for help for food providers two weeks ago. This funding, combined with the $25 million the state pledged in response to the Council's request, will pay for over 19 million meals. We must continue to do everything we can to prevent a hunger crisis in New York City. No one should be food insecure in the richest city in the United States," said Speaker Corey Johnson.

"During this crisis, New York City's food pantries have been vital partners, and I'm glad that even in a difficult time, we are able to support them. Any New Yorker can find a map of local pantries and other options at NYC.gov/GetFood, and I look forward to continuing to work with these pantries to get food to people in need," said Food Czar and Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia.

The City's Food Czar team, overseen by Commissioner Kathryn Garcia, has been doing direct outreach to pantries to understand their needs, and this funding will cover critical immediate operating expenses such as increased food costs, additional staffing, new safety supplies, and the ability to deliver food items directly to seniors who are now homebound. More than 800 organizations citywide, including pantries, mobile pantries, soup kitchens and non-profit organizations, may be eligible to receive emergency funding for these critical operating expenses. The Food Czar team, in partnership with New York City Human Resources Administration/Department of Social Services, will begin outreach to let food pantries know how to access these newly available emergency funds.

Thursday, April 9, 2020

No. 202.15: Continuing Temporary Suspension and Modification of Laws Relating to the Disaster Emergency


No. 202.15

E X E C U T I V E  O R D E R

Continuing Temporary Suspension and Modification of Laws
Relating to the Disaster Emergency

WHEREAS, on March 7, 2020, I issued Executive Order Number 202, declaring a State disaster emergency for the entire State of New York; and
WHEREAS, both travel-related cases and community contact transmission of COVID-19 have been documented in New York State and are expected to be continue;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Andrew M. Cuomo, Governor of the State of New York, by virtue of the authority vested in me by Section 29-a of Article 2-B of the Executive Law to temporarily suspend or modify any statute, local law, ordinance, order, rule, or regulation, or parts thereof, of any agency during a State disaster emergency, if compliance with such statute, local law, ordinance, order, rule, or regulation would prevent, hinder, or delay action necessary to cope with the disaster emergency or if necessary to assist or aid in coping with such disaster, I hereby temporarily suspend or modify, for the period from the date of this Executive Order through May 9, 2020 the following:

  • Paragraph (4) of subdivision (a) of Section 5-6.12 of Title 10 of the NYCRR, governing bottled or bulk water products sold or distributed in New York, to allow bottled and bulk water product facilities currently certified in in New York to temporarily, if their stock of regularly used labels has been depleted, distribute bottled or bulk water products without an assigned New York State Department of Health certificate number shown on the product label and use labels authorized in any other state. Once labels showing the assigned certificate number have been obtained, their use must be resumed;
  • Section 6808 of the Education Law and any regulations promulgated thereunder, to the extent necessary to permit a manufacturer, repacker, or wholesaler of prescription drugs or devices, physically located outside of New York and not registered in New York, but licensed and/or registered in any other state, may deliver into New York, prescription drugs or devices;
  • Section 6808 of the Education Law, Article 137 of the NYCRR to the extent necessary to allow that a New York-licensed pharmacy may receive drugs and medical supplies or devices from an unlicensed pharmacy, wholesaler, or third-party logistics provider located in another state to alleviate a temporary shortage of a drug or device that could result in the denial of health care under the following conditions:
    • The unlicensed location is appropriately licensed in its home state, and documentation of the license verification can be maintained by the New York pharmacy.
    • The pharmacy maintains documentation of the temporary shortage of any drug or device received from any pharmacy, wholesaler, or third-party logistics provider not licensed in New York.
    • The pharmacy complies with all record-keeping requirements for each drug and device received from any pharmacy, wholesaler, or third-party logistics provider not licensed in New York.
    • All documentation and records required above shall be maintained and readily retrievable for three years following the end of the declared emergency.
    • The drug or device was produced by an authorized FDA registered drug manufacturer;
  • Sections 6512 through 6516, and 6524 of the Education Law and Part 60 of Title 8 of the NYCRR, to the extent necessary to allow individuals, who graduated from registered or accredited medical programs located in New York State in 2020, to practice medicine in New York State, without the need to obtain a license and without civil or criminal penalty related to lack of licensure, provided that the practice of medicine by such graduates shall in all cases be supervised by a physician licensed and registered to practice medicine in the State of New York;
  • Subparagraphs (ii) and (iii) of paragraph (b) and paragraph (c) of subdivision (4) of section 2801-a of the Public Health Law, and subparagraph (ii) of paragraph (c) of subdivision (1) and paragraph (c) of subdivision (2) of section 3611-a of the Public Health Law, to the extent necessary to limit the Department of Health’s review functions to essential matters during the pendency of the COVID-19 health crisis, and to toll any statutory time limits for transfer notices pertaining to operators of Article 28 and Article 36 licensed entities for the duration of this declaration of disaster emergency, and any subsequent continuation thereof;
  • Sections 43 and 45 of the Religious Corporations Law to the extent necessary to allow Protestant Episcopal parishes to postpone any annual election and notice to the parish of such election during the state disaster emergency absent formal resolution and ratification by meeting;
  • Environmental Conservation Law Articles 3, 8, 9, 13, 15, 17, 19, 23, 24, 25, 27, 33, 34, 35, 37, and 75, and 6 NYCRR Parts 552 , 550, 601, and 609 to the extent necessary to suspend the requirement that public hearings are required, provided that public comments shall still be accepted either electronically or by mail, to satisfy public participation requirements;
  • State Administrative Procedures Act Section 202(2)(a) to the extent necessary to extend the expiration date of notices of proposed rulemakings until 90 calendar days after this Executive Order, as it may be continued, terminates;
  • Environmental Conservation Law Article 70, as implemented by 6 NYCRR Parts 621 and 624, and Environmental Conservation Law Article 17, as implemented by 6 NYCRR Parts 704 and 750 for processing permit applications, to the extent necessary to suspend public hearings provided that public comments may be accepted as written submissions, either electronically or by mail, or that any required appearances may be done so by teleconferencing or other electronic means;
  • 6 NYCRR Part 375 and Environmental Conservation Law Article 27 to the extent necessary to suspend for the duration of this Executive Order public meetings prior to a selection of a final remedy at inactive hazardous waste disposal sites and public meetings at certain brownfield cleanup program sites, provided that written comments on proposed remedies may be continue to be submitted and will be evaluated in remedial decision;
  • Section 3635 of the Education law, to the extent necessary to delay the April 1 requirement that parents must file transportation requests with their school district in order to obtain transportation for their children for the following school year;
  • Sections 6512 through 6516 and 8510 of the Education Law and 8 NYCRR Subpart 79-4 to the extent necessary to allow respiratory therapy technicians licensed and in current good standing in any state in the United States to practice in New York State without civil or criminal penalty related to lack of licensure;
  • Sections 6512 through 6516, 8402, 8403, 8404, 8405 of the Education Law and 8 NYCRR Sub Parts 79-9, 79-10, 79-11 and 79-12 to the extent necessary to allow mental health counselors, marriage and family therapists, creative arts therapists and psychanalysts licensed and in current good standing in any state in the United States to practice in New York State without civil or criminal penalty related to lack of licensure;
  • Sections 3400, 3420 through 3423, and 3450 through 3457 of the Public Health Law, to the extent necessary to permit funeral directors licensed and in good standing in any state or territory of the United States to practice as a funeral director in New York State upon the approval of, and pursuant to such conditions as may be imposed by, the Commissioner of Health,  without civil or criminal penalty related to lack of licensure in New York State, provided that such funeral director shall practice under the supervision of a funeral director licensed and registered in New York State;
  • Section 3428 of the Public Health Law to the extent necessary to permit a funeral director licensed in New York State, but not registered in New York State, to practice in New York State upon the approval of, and pursuant to such conditions as may be imposed by, the Commissioner of Health, without civil or criminal penalty related to lack of registration in New York State, provided that such funeral director shall practice under the supervision of a funeral director licensed and registered in New York State;
  • Section 1517 of the Not for Profit Corporation Law, Sections 203.3, 203.6 and 203.13 of Title 19 of the NYCRR and Section 77.7(a)(1) of Title 10 of the NYCRR, to the extent necessary to allow persons deputized by the Commissioner of Health to be agents authorized by a funeral director or undertaker to be present and personally supervise and arrange for removal or transfer of each dead human body;
  • Section 1517 of the Not for Profit Corporation Law, Sections 203.3, 203.6 and 203.13 of Title 19 of the NYCRR and Section 77.7(a)(4) of Title 10 of the NYCRR, to the extent necessary to allow persons deputized by the Commissioner of Health to be agents authorized by a funeral director or undertaker, or a county coroner, coroner physician and/or medical director for those deceased human bodies within their supervision, to personally supervise and arrange the delivery of a deceased person to the cemetery, crematory or a common carrier, with a copy of the filed death certificate;
  • Sections 4140 and 4144 of the Public Health Law, Sections 1502, 1517 of the Not for Profit Corporation Law and Sections 203.1, 203.4, 203.8 and 203.13 of Title 19 of the NYCRR and Section 13.1 of Title 10 of the NYCRR, to the extent necessary to permit the State Registrar to register death certificates and issue burial and removal permits, upon the request of a local registrar and upon approval of the Commissioner of Health;

IN ADDITION, by virtue of the authority vested in me by Section 29-a of Article 2-B of the Executive Law to issue any directive during a disaster emergency necessary to cope with the disaster, I hereby issue the following directives for the period from the date of this Executive Order through May 9, 2020:

  • Any local official, state official or local government or school, which, by virtue of any law has a public hearing scheduled or otherwise required to take place in April or May of 2020 shall be postponed, until June 1, 2020, without prejudice, however such hearing may continue if the convening public body or official is able to hold the public hearing remotely, through use of telephone conference, video conference, and/or other similar service.
  • For the period from the date of this Executive Order through May 9, 2020, the Department of Taxation and Finance is authorized to accept digital signatures in lieu of handwritten signatures on documents related to the determination or collection of tax liability. The Commissioner of Taxation and Finance shall determine which documents this directive shall apply to and shall further define the requirements for accepted digital signatures.
  • Section 8-400 of the Election Law is temporarily suspended and hereby modified to provide that due to the prevalence and community spread of COVID-19, an absentee ballot can be granted based on temporary illness and shall include the potential for contraction of the COVID-19 virus for any election held on or before June 23, 2020.
  • Solely for any election held on or before June 23, 2020, Section 8-400 of the Election Law is hereby modified to allow for electronic application, with no requirement for in-person signature or appearance to be able to access an absentee ballot.

  G I V E N   under my hand and the Privy Seal of the State in the City of Albany this ninth day of April in the year two thousand twenty.

BY THE GOVERNOR       
  
Secretary to the Governor

Governor Cuomo Announces Five New COVID-19 Testing Facilities in Minority Communities Downstate


  Today is Thursday, April 9 if you were wondering about where we are today. Seems like one day blends into the other. You have weekdays and you have weekends. But do you really have weekdays and weekends if you're not working? Today I think it's important to take an overall look at where we are. The context, the perspective because we're starting to see a shift and I want to make sure that people actually keep the shift in perspective and understand where we are in the scope of our journey in this situation.

It's been 18 days since we closed down New York. I know it feels like a lifetime. I tell my daughters every day, "It's only 18 days since everything days." It's 39 days since the first COVID case in New York. It feels like a lifetime. It's 80 days since we had the first COVID case in the United States. Eighty days. Been an intense, life-changing 80 days, but that's what it has been.

When we started this situation that we are still in the midst of, before people get complacent. The end of the March, the White House task force, coronavirus task force, was still talking about 1.5-2.2 million deaths. The best case scenario with quote, unquote mitigation efforts, was 100,000-240,000 deaths in the United States, which is breathtaking. For New York, there were a number of models that were put out that we are following. The most frightening was Columbia University that said we could have 136,000 people in New York City only who would be hospitalized. Not infected. We had the McKinsey model which suggested 110,000 people could be hospitalized statewide. We had a second scenario from McKinsey which is 55,000 people hospitalized. Then the Gates Foundation, thank you very much, funded the IHNE study which said a highpoint of 73,000 statewide.

Any of these scenarios are devastating for New York. Because remember we only have a 53,000 bed capacity system statewide; 36,000 beds in New York City. Any of these scenarios are problematic. Luckily, the current trend, if it continues - and if we continue the flattening of the curve - we're at about 18,000 people hospitalized right now. We have increased the capacity of the system dramatically. We have moved pieces around the state like never before. Our health care system has done a phenomenal job of doing an insurmountable task. Our federal partners, the Army Corps of Engineers, they have just really all done a great, great job. Our theory, and I believe my job as Governor, prepare for the worst, hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.

Now, we're at about 90,000 bed capacity in our overall system today with everything we've done. Even the 90,000 beds, as you see, doesn't compare with the most problematic scenarios. Ninety thousand beds, we can handle the McKinsey moderate scenario. We don't make the McKinsey severe scenario at 110,000. I believe that 90,000 we have a plan to get to 110,000, converting dormitories, et cetera, et cetera. But it would be a massive undertaking and a massive scramble. We do make the Gates funded projection model. The Columbia University model we can never, that would just be a nightmare. That's the one that keeps me up at night because you couldn't get anywhere near that projection.

All of the statisticians also said, "Look, we don't know how effective you can be at closing things down and social distancing," because we've never done it before. But they all said that's the chance to so-called flatten the curve if you actually got people to comply with all these measures, and we have never seen it done before in this country and we don't know if you can do it. So that is the big if in the equation. And that remains the big if in the equation. You can flatten the curve, we are flattening the curve, by what we're doing, and we're flattening the curve so far. We should all be concerned, especially New Yorkers, well, we're flattening the curve, that's good news. It is good news. Well now I can relax.

No, you can't relax. The flattening of the curve last night happened because of what we did yesterday and the day before and the day before that. This is all a direct consequence to our actions. If we stop acting the way we're acting, you will see those numbers go up. And I showed the projection models because we can't handle the worst-case scenarios. We can't even handle the moderate case scenarios with all we've done. So it is essential that we keep that curve flattened because we don't have an option of handling the curve if it goes higher.

The additional good news is the hospitalization rate does suggest that it's coming down and we are flattening the curve. We had 200 net increase in hospitalizations, which you can see is the lowest number we've had since this nightmare started, actually. Change in ICU admissions is the lowest number we've had since March 19 or so. All of this data suggests that we are flattening the curve so far, and the numbers are coming down so far. Number of intubations is down, three-day average on intubations is down. So far our efforts are working. They're working better than anyone projected they would work. That's because people are complying with them.

You know there are always two questions: can you enact these policies, and then can you enact the policies in a way that people will follow? You know, we can enact a policy, and people thumb their nose to it and continue doing what they're doing. So there has to be a social acceptance, an adherence, to the policy. And New Yorkers are doing that. They're acting responsibility, and diligently, and we are saving lives by what people are doing today. Our expression has been New York Tough, because every day is tough on many, many levels. I get it. But, every day that we are New York Tough, we are actually saving lives.

And don't underestimate this virus. I think that is a mistake we made from day one. We is the collective we, we is the global community. This virus is very, very good at what it does. We lost more lives yesterday than we have to date. We understand, and all the experts have said, Dr. Fauci said from day one to me, you will see the deaths increasing after the hospitalizations because the deaths increase the longer a person is in the hospital, the longer a person is on the ventilator. I understand the scientific concept. I understand the data. But you're talking about 799 lives. The highest number ever. It's gotten to the point, frankly, that we're going to bring in additional funeral directors to deal with the number of people who have passed. If you ever told me that as governor I would have to take these actions, I couldn't even contemplate where we are now.

And to put all of this in perspective, I lived through 9/11. 9/11 was supposed to be the darkest day in New York for a generation. We've done everything we can since 9/11 to make sure 9/11 didn't happen again. We lose 2,753 lives on 9/11. We've lost over 7,000 lives to this crisis. That is so shocking, and painful and breathtaking I don't even have the words for it. 9/11 was so devastating, so tragic, and then in many ways we lose so many more New Yorkers to this silent killer. There was no explosion but it was a silent explosion that just ripples through society with this same randomness, the same evil that we saw on 9/11.

What we do we do? We move forward and we do the work that we need to do. We're going to start an effort called New York Loves which is going to be a coordination of all the charities and not-for-profits and foundations and people who want to help. There's been a tremendous outpouring of support from organized not-for-profits, et cetera, but also people just wanting to donate, people just wanting to help. The best effort is if we can coordinate all those resources to make sure there's not duplication and we're actually addressing the right need. So the Department of State, Rossana Rosado, Secretary of State, and Fran Barrett who coordinates not-for-profits - we will coordinate all the people who want to donate and help and will work with the local governments that need help.

Also let's learn the lessons of what we're going through now because we haven't finished going through it. Let's learn how and why this virus kills especially why we have higher fatality rates among African Americans and Latinos and what we do about it. Let's understand it but let's also address it. We're going to be doing more testing in African-American and Latino communities. With more data we're going to open new testing sites primarily in African American and Latino communities. With SUNY Albany, Department of Health, Northwell - collect the test results but also collect the information that we need to come up with policies to fix this. Where do people live? Where do people work? What's the socioeconomic status? Where do they socialize? What are the previous health conditions? Why do we have these higher rates and what do we do about it in? Let's do that.

Rapid testing and testing is going to be the bridge to the new economy and getting to work and restarting. We're not going to go to go from red to green. We're going to go from red to yellow. Yellow is let the people who can go back to work start going back to work. How do you know who can go back to work? Test them. You have rapid testing capacity. We have to bring it to scale. We have to bring it to scale quickly and that's something that the State is working on as well as the federal government.

Let's also find the treatment for this disease - a convalescent plasma which is plasma from people who were infected that can be then used to treat people who get infected. We need that plasma from people who were infected. We're starting up lot blood drive and asking those who have recovered from the virus to contact us and to donate blood so we can develop the convalescent plasma treatment and there's a website on the screen that they can go to to help.

We also have to be prepared and stay prepared. We have to have the supplies. We have to have the right laws. We have to have the right procedures because remember the 1918 Spanish flu came in three waves. We're on the first weight. Everybody is assuming well once we get through this we're done. I wouldn't be so quick to assume that. This virus has been ahead of us from day one. We've underestimated the enemy and that is always dangerous my friends and we should not do that again. There is an article in the LA Times that says the communities that have dealt with this before like Wuhan and Singapore are now seeing a second wave of infection. There is a theory that this virus can mutate and change and come back. We're in a battle but this is about a war and we're only on one battle here. Even once we get through this battle, we have to stay prepared for what could come down the road. And we also have to start to repair the immense damage.

Before you start talking about restarting the economy you're going to have to address the damage that is done to society today which is intense. The economic damage. People who are now living in poverty. I mean, people have been without a check, without a job, for weeks. Most people in this state live paycheck to paycheck and all of a sudden the paychecks stop. We're doing everything we can on the unemployment benefits and increasing the unemployment benefits. But, you have families that are in true economic hardship and are impoverished because of this situation.

What we do with the housing market, the healthcare system we have pushed to the max. We have pushed people to the max, we have pushed facilities to the max. We have beds in lobbies, in conference rooms, in hallways. I mean, we did what we had to do to be ready, but we have done a lot of damage in the midst that has to be undone. So, that's something that we're working on immediately.

We need the federal government to be responsible. We need the federal government to pass legislation that helps. We have to stabilize state and local governments across this country. New York State has had the highest number of cases by far and away. Our costs have been the highest in the country. They passed legislation that was enacted. We were told it would bring 6 billion dollars to healthcare. When we did our state budget a couple of weeks ago, we believed what they said and we believed we were looking at 6 billion dollars in healthcare funding. Turns out, when we actually read the language, it was about 1.3 billion dollars to the state of New York, which is much different than 5 or 6 billion dollars. The funding disqualified one third of New York's Medicaid recipients, which nobody said. To our federal representatives, I spoke to Senator Schumer, I spoke to Senator Gillibrand, this is no time for politics. This is a time to enact the legislation that actually addresses the need. I was in Washington for eight years, I get how the political process works in Washington. Not here and not now, my friends.

We also have a significant mental health issue that comes with what we've done. The isolation, the disorientation. It's a growing problem. We have a growing problem with the number of domestic violence cases. If you need help during this highly stressful period, and I suspect more people need help than acknowledge that they need help, we have a support hotline. We have thousands of people who have volunteered to help. People should reach out and ask for it.
We have to stay ahead of this virus. We're watching Rockland, Nassau, and Suffolk. The numbers have come down in New York City. But you look at the concentric circles around New York City, the natural spread, the natural concentric circles, are toward the suburban communities - Westchester, Rockland, Nassau, Suffolk. Westchester we've had problems already. One of the first hotspots in the nation was New Rochelle in Westchester. Now we're seeing numbers creep up in Rockland. Nassau and Suffolk, the numbers are creeping up so we're watching those areas next. We sent additional equipment last night.

The overall point is, look, you stay at home and you save a life. Period. Stay at home, you save a life. I know New Yorkers, I'm born and bred, the instinct is well this is good news, now I can relax because, by the way, I've been dying to relax and get out of the house and end this Groundhog Day reality. Yeah, you're not out of the woods. Now is not the time to misunderstand what's happening. We have done great things and we have saved lives because we have followed these policies. The moment you stop following the policies, you will go right back and see that number shoot through the roof. We are not prepared to handle the highest numbers in those projection models. Whatever we do, you can't take a 50,000 bed system and get it to 136,000 beds. It's an impossibility.

I'm a person who never says no and believes New York can do anything if we try. I'm telling you, we have to keep that curve flat. Today we can say we have lost many of our brothers and sisters, but we haven't lost anyone because they didn't get the right and best health care that they could. The way I sleep at night is I believe that we didn't lose anyone that we could have saved. And that is the only solace when I look at these numbers and look at this pain that has been created. That has to be true. That has to continue. That is a function of what each and every one of us does.

New York tough, Yes. We're tough, but tough means we're smart, we're disciplined, we're unified, and we're loving. If you don't want to stay home for yourself, stay home for someone you love. That's what the stay at home campaign is all about. You want to have reckless disregard for your life? It's not about your life. It's about the health care worker who will have to treat you in the emergency room. It's about the vulnerable person who you infect, who you could kill by your actions. Sometimes it's not about you, Right? It's not about me. It's about we. That's where we are.

Rite Aid to Pay $4.75 Million to Resolve Allegations that it Violated Federal Law in the Sale of Pseudoephedrine Tablets


  Retail drugstore chain Rite Aid, which operates more than 2,000 pharmacies in 18 states, will pay the United States a $4.75 million penalty to resolve allegations that its employees, in violation of the Controlled Substances Act, recorded false or incomplete information about customers who purchased tens of thousands of products containing pseudoephedrine.  Pseudoephedrine, an ingredient found in many cough and cold medicines, is used by some to illegally manufacture the drug methamphetamine.

Grant C. Jaquith, United States Attorney for the Northern District of New York, Richard P. Donoghue, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Ray Donovan, Special Agent-in-Charge, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), New York Division, and Todd Scott, Special Agent-in-Charge, DEA, Louisville Division, made the announcement.
In order to prevent the illicit use of pseudoephedrine, the Controlled Substances Act requires Rite Aid and other retail sellers to create and maintain a logbook that contains, among other things, the name and address of each customer who makes a purchase of a pseudoephedrine product.  In the settlement agreement, Rite Aid admitted that, between August 2009 and January 2014, certain Rite Aid employees entered into Rite Aid’s logbook inaccurate or incomplete name and address information for customers. The United States alleged that this misconduct occurred in connection with tens of thousands of sales during that time period.  Shortly after the United States brought these violations to Rite Aid’s attention, the company voluntarily devised and implemented a number of enhancements to its process for sales of pseudoephedrine products to better ensure Rite Aid’s compliance with federal law.
“Rite Aid had a moral and a legal obligation to keep track of its pseudoephedrine sales to help ensure that the regulated drug was purchased for legitimate reasons, and not for the illegal manufacture of methamphetamine,” stated United States Attorney Jaquith.  “We are committed to enforcing that obligation with aggressive action and appropriate penalties that also reflect acceptance of responsibility, implementation of compliance measures, and ability to pay.”
“Pseudoephedrine products are regulated under federal law because they have been used in the production of a highly addictive and highly dangerous drug, methamphetamine,” stated United States Attorney Donoghue.  “The settlement with Rite Aid sends a clear message to all those engaged in the manufacture, distribution and sale of those products: you must comply with federal laws enacted to prevent the illegal use of your products.”
“Companies that do not comply with the Controlled Substances Act are violating the law,” stated DEA Special Agent-in-Charge Donovan.  “Regulatory laws are put in place for a reason – to ensure public health and safety.  Companies that turn a blind eye to regulations concerning the purchase of products containing pseudoephedrine enable illicit methamphetamine production.  Rite Aid’s disregard to compliance made it personal to us – whose job it is to save lives.”
“What Rite Aid learned today is that no one is above the law, not even large companies,” stated DEA Special Agent-in-Charge Scott. “It is vitally important that pharmacies meet their record-keeping obligations to account for the safe flow of medications, to include pseudoephedrine, which carries the potential for methamphetamine abuse.”
The investigation and settlement were the result of a coordinated effort among the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, and DEA.