Council Member Andy King - Statement Regarding Covid-19 Stats in Zip Code 10469

Recently there was a report put out by Department of Health regarding COVID 19 statistics for New York City. 

  

In this report it listed that zip code 10469 in The Bronx, where I also reside, is the leading zip code in The Bronx and number 2 in the state.  It says that 10469 incurred 307 deaths and 41% of the residents tested positive.  I am clearly disturbed not only at the numbers in this report but the tone that it sets for the residents living in 10469.  I would like more clarity on what those real numbers are, because 10469 population is 66,631 people; 41% of that is 27,318 people. I question the Department of Health, whether they tested 27K people or is the 41% represented out of the number of people that you tested?  If so, what is the number of people you tested?  While this pandemic is a serious matter, we should not put data that creates emotional stress or is misleading to the public at any time.  So, I call on the Department of Health to give us detail numbers of people that were actually tested within 10469, because we have a responsibility to keep people calm when there is a state of emergency.

Councilman Andy King.

NYC Department Of Education To Pay Over $1.1 Million To Four Victims Of Race Discrimination And Retaliation In Connection With Suit Brought By U.S. Attorney

Settlements Resolve Allegations That the NYC Department of Education Discriminated Against African American Teachers Who Worked at Pan American International High School and Retaliated Against an Assistant Principal Who Spoke Out Against the Discrimination

  Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that the United States has settled a federal civil rights lawsuit alleging that the NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION (the “DOE”) engaged in a pattern and practice of discrimination and retaliation in violation of Title VII.  Specifically, as alleged in the Government’s complaint, the DOE and Superintendent Juan Mendez permitted Principal Minerva Zanca to discriminate against all three African American teachers who worked at Pan American International High School (“Pan American”) and retaliate against an assistant principal who spoke out against the discrimination.  In connection with the settlement agreements, which were approved by U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, the DOE agreed to pay a total of $1,187,500 to the four victims of DOE’s discrimination and retaliation, and provide training to all DOE superintendents regarding DOE’s anti-discrimination policies and procedures.  

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said:  “Title VII expressly prohibits employers from discriminating against individuals on the basis of their race or retaliating against individuals who protest such discrimination.  The discrimination in this case was invidious, unlawful, and counter to our core values.  This Office will remain vigilant in ensuring that employers who do not comply with Title VII are held to account.” 

According to the Complaint, in August 2012, Superintendent Mendez selected Minerva Zanca as Pan American’s new principal.  During the 2012-2013 school year, Pan American employed 27 teachers, three of whom were African American.  Throughout that school year, Principal Zanca purposely targeted John Flanagan and Heather Hightower, Pan American’s two untenured African American teachers, for unsatisfactory lesson ratings.  Principal Zanca also made derogatory racial comments about Mr. Flanagan and Ms. Hightower to Assistant Principal Anthony Riccardo.  Specifically, Principal Zanca asked whether Assistant Principal Riccardo had seen Mr. Flanagan’s “big lips quivering” during a meeting, that Ms. Hightower “looked like a gorilla in a sweater,” and that she could “never” have “fucking nappy hair” like Ms. Hightower.  Principal Zanca also discriminated against Lisa-Erika James, a tenured African American teacher, by cutting the highly successful theater program Ms. James oversaw.

During the spring of 2013, when Assistant Principal Riccardo refused to give an unsatisfactory rating to a lesson taught by Ms. Hightower, Principal Zanca accused him of “sabotaging her plan,” and called school security to have him removed from the building. Subsequently, Principal Zanca initiated two complaints against Assistant Principal Riccardo with the DOE’s internal investigatory offices.  Those offices determined that Principal Zanca’s allegations did not warrant any charges against Assistant Principal Riccardo.  In June of 2013, Principal Zanca gave Assistant Principal Riccardo, Mr. Flanagan, and Ms. Hightower annual performance ratings of “unsatisfactory.”  Principal Zanca’s misconduct was brought to the attention of Superintendent Mendez, but the DOE did not take any disciplinary action against Principal Zanca.  Even after the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) found reasonable cause to believe that the DOE had discriminated and retaliated against Ms. James, Mr. Riccardo, and Ms. Hightower, Principal Zanca was allowed to remain in charge of Pan American.  Neither Ms. Hightower, Mr. Flanagan, Ms. James, nor Mr. Riccardo worked at Pan American after the 2012-2013 school year.

Title VII authorizes the Department of Justice to commence an action in the United States District Court against the DOE to remedy discrimination and retaliation for opposing discrimination.  The Government’s lawsuit sought declaratory and injunctive relief, as well as compensatory damages on behalf of Mr. Flanagan, Ms. James, Ms. Hightower, and Assistant Principal Riccardo, all of whom also filed their own lawsuits regarding the discrimination and retaliation they suffered at the hands of DOE.  Attorneys for the complainants, Erica L. Shnayder, Arcé Law Group, PC, and Noah A. Kinigstein, Law Office of Noah A. Kinigstein, assisted in the litigation and resolution of this matter.

The settlements, which resolve both the United States’ suit and the private lawsuits, require the DOE to pay the four victims a combined total of $1,187,500, and provide additional training for DOE superintendents to ensure that employment decisions are properly handled and that this type of discrimination and retaliation in New York City schools will not go unchecked.

More information on the obligations of employers with respect to discrimination and retaliation is available at www.eeoc.gov.

Mr. Berman thanked the EEOC for its initial investigation of the Complaint.

Governor Cuomo Announces State is Bringing in International Experts to Help Advise the State's Reopening Plan

Dr. Michael T. Osterholm, Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota and Dr. Samir Bhatt, Senior Lecturer at Imperial College London Will Help Analyze Data and Metrics Throughout New York's Reopening Process

  Governor Cuomo: What will reopening mean? That's a big topic of discussion now. What does reopening mean? This is not a subject that is a political subject or where political opinions really matter. I don't care if you're Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, I don't care. I don't care. This is not a political exercise that we are going through. People say, well I have a personal opinion. I don't even care about your personal opinion. I don't think you should care about my personal opinion because it's not about a personal opinion. It's not about an ideological opinion. It's not about a geographic opinion. It's not even an opinion that's relevant. This is about facts and science and data these decisions are being made as a matter of math. It's numbers. It's math. That's all it is at the end of the day. You start to increase economic activity, you have more people coming out of their homes, more people contacting other people and then you measure the impact of that increase with numbers - not with opinions, not with politics, not with partisanship. With numbers, and then you just measure the impact.

Make sure that you don't go above 70 percent of your hospital beds so that if a large number of people get infected you have the hospital beds to take care of them. You make sure you don't go over 70 percent of your ICU bed capacity because when these people are infected with COVID they do need ICU beds. We learned that the hard way. You have testing up and running, 30 tests per 1,000 residents. Where did that come from? That's the White House Coronavirus Task Force, Dr. Birx.

You have 30 tracers ready for every 100,000 residents. That comes from the experts, and then you watch the infection rate and you make sure that you don't get near 1.1 on the infection rate. It's math and there's a liberation in that. At a time of such division in politics and elections and all this garbage this is an exercise in science and math and it's data that we can all share and we can all participate in. I encourage people to go look at the data and look at what's happening in your region because that's how we're going to get through this - on the numbers on the math, on the facts.

We're going to bring in advisers to the State, advisors who are international experts, global experts who have dealt with these kinds of diseases. This is not just a State of New York issue. It's not even an American issue. It's a global issue and I want to make sure we have people reviewing and then reviewing the reviewers and then as many opinions of experts that we can get are the best path forward. Dr. Osterholm is a nationwide expert in this field and he has agreed to review our data, what we're doing, what's happening, and to advise us as to how our progress looks on the numbers. I want to thank him very much. We to have Dr. Samir Bhatt, Senior Lecturer at Imperial College, who has agreed to serve as an advisor to the State of New York. Dr. Bhatt is the senior lecturer in geostatistics at the Imperial College in London. Geostatistics is not my field of endeavor. I never heard of geostatistics before, doctor. That's why we need you to advise us, Dr. Bhatt, because I know nothing about geostatistics. But Dr. Bhatt is joining us, I want to thank him very much. The Imperial College in London, we have had a number of projection models that were done early on by a number of very prestigious universities.

And we've been watching all these projection models since this started. As you know, many of the models were not 100 percent accurate because they couldn't calculate the effect of the social participation and what people actually did to change the curve. And in a State like New York, what the people did dramatically changed that curve so it affected the projections. But, the Imperial College model, as we've been following this for weeks, was the best, most accurate model. And therefore, I think Dr. Bhatt deserves all our thanks because they really helped us all through this to date, and I want to thank him very much for taking the time to advise us, not just on how we constructed our model to date but what happens going forward as we increase the economic activity and we start to see numbers change. So, Doctor, thank you very much for being with us, and it's a pleasure to welcome you today.

Dr. Samir Bhatt: Thank you, Governor. It's a professional honor to work with New York. I think your state has already shown what can be achieved when policies are driven by science. And I think the sacrifices people have made and will continue to make deserves an applause. The leadership shown in New York during this crisis should be commended and I think yours is an approach for others to follow. At Imperial College London, we have a huge COVID-19 response team collaborating with scientists and government agencies globally. You in New York have successfully contained the virus for now, but New York is not out of the woods yet. No state, no country is. As you reopen, New York must continue to watch the data and follow the science. We are really eager to work with New York, as they're approaching this crisis from a scientific perspective driven by data. New York is leading the way with data collection, and this will help tie together as many sources of evidence as possible to reach a scientific consensus which can then be used for decision-making. Our team is focused on rigorous modeling to track R, or RT, as you have put it, as well. The reproduction number of the virus going forward. If R goes above 1, this means the virus is no longer contained, and we need to track the spread of this virus and the disease using the best data possible and as much of it as possible. We're committed to open science, so policymakers and citizens understand our conclusions, limitations, and of course, the uncertainties. To date, my team at Imperial has released reports for Europe, Brazil, Italy, relying on data from Google, as well as open source statistical tools developed at Columbia University. Thanks to these tools and our research network, the code is available to everyone to see, test, and to improve. As countries around the world and states around the U.S. start reopening their economies, we will see cases rise once again. And so, New York must continue to be vigilant and to follow the data. So, I think, I say, you know, Governor, thank you for this opportunity, and truly, thank you for the work you've been doing and you are doing.

Governor Cuomo: Thank you. Thank you very much, Doctor, thank you for being with us. Thank you, I look forward to speaking to you in the days ahead. I want to thank the doctor very much and the whole college. Look, I'm a parochial New Yorker. I was not all that eager to seek the advice of a college in London, but I can tell you this. This is a global pandemic, and what we're now doing, other countries have done before. We tend to think we are always the first. We're not the first. We're not the first to deal with this virus. Other countries have dealt with it, other countries have gone through reopening, they've learned all sorts of lessons on reopening. I want to make sure that what we're doing is the best-informed approach. So, I want to thank the doctor very much, and they'll be looking exactly at what happens at our data, our metrics, going forward.

MAYOR DE BLASIO on COVID-19 - May 18, 2020

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Now as of this very day for the first time, the Made in New York City test kits are in use at Health + Hospitals community testing sites, and this is beginning today. By the end of the week, more than 60,000 of these test kits will have been delivered and be in use. And then we're ramping up from there. The production process is speeding up every week. So last week, 28,000 kits produced this week, 33,000. In the week of May 25th, 50,000. The week of May, excuse me, the week of June 1st over 60,000 of these test kits will be produced each week in New York City. That is more than the original projection of what could be produced weekly. And we'll keep going as far as we have to go to make sure that every New Yorker who needs a test gets one. And remember, this is not just about the test kits that are being produced right now for all of you to use now. This is about building capacity in New York City to produce whatever we need in the future to fight this pandemic and anything else that's thrown at us. This is about building the capacity to produce right here and to protect ourselves.

Now, constant growth from this point on, so more testing sites. We have the kits. Now, we need more sites. Two more Health + Hospitals test sites open today in communities in the city. One in Washington Heights, one in Midwood. That brings us to 25 total Health + Hospitals sites on top of that five One Medical sites. That’s the private provider working with Local 1199 SEIU. And as I announced yesterday, 123 CityMD urgent care sites now all providing testing to New Yorkers. Added up, over 150 test sites now in this city. Remember just a few weeks ago we didn't have grassroots testing. We were fighting just to keep our hospitals going. Now over 150 sites and that will keep growing steadily. To find a place where you can get tested, go online, nyc.gov/covidtest. Everything I referred to here, these kits, again this is the diagnostic testing, diagnostic testing, or otherwise referred to as PCR testing. This is to tell you if right now you have the coronavirus, the other kind of testing is important too, the antibody testing, which helps you understand if you've been exposed previously to the coronavirus and obviously proves your ability to fight your way through it.

So, in the coming weeks, two big initiatives that are starting now and they'll build out – 140,000 antibody tests will be provided to first responders and health care workers, and then 140,000 for everyday New Yorkers on top of that, combined well over a quarter-million antibody tests. This morning our antibody testing program for our first responders and health care workers began and it will run for about four weeks. This is in coordination with the federal government and I want to thank everyone at the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control who came to us with this proposal. We worked together in partnership. They are covering all the appropriate costs. So, this is something that's being provided for free to first responders and health care workers and not being charged to the City of New York either. So that's a very good thing. Again, every individual gets the results, that's good. But on top of it, it will help us understand what's happening with the disease more broadly. So, it's part of a bigger study to help us learn how to fight this disease better. So, 140,000 of our heroes will get tested. It's voluntary, it's up to each of you, first responders, health care workers. If you want it, it's there for you. Now it will start with FDNY, with EMTs, paramedics, firefighters, the whole FDNY family. Anyone is welcome to participate. Testers will go to your work sites. Same with the OCME staff, Medical Examiner's Office. Those will be the first agencies reached. You can sign up to get your test right away and then we're going to reach more and more of our first responders and health care agencies over the coming weeks. To sign up, you go to firstserosurveynyc.com – yes, it's a mouthful. Firstsero – S-E-R-O – surveynyc.com or text TESTNYC to 783-78. So, we're really happy that that's up and running. That's going to give a lot of good information to individuals who have served us so well and also help us all to fight this disease.

First of all, important what they are calling this new reality. CDC is now calling it multi-system inflammatory syndrome in children – MIS-C. So, we will from this point on refer to it also as MIS-C for consistency with the federal government. The CDC has confirmed a link to COVID-19. So, this is important. We've assumed it, but they have done additional research to 100 percent confirm it and they've released a standard national definition so that the whole country, doctors, scientists all over the country can share information, common definition, and we can all work together to understand how to fight this back. Now, again, we'll call it MIS-C. 

So, it begins with – since it is linked to COVID-19 you've got the immediate point that everything else we do to fight the coronavirus we need to do to fight MIS-C. So, that means the hygiene, the washing hands, the hand sanitizer, the coughing into your elbow when you cough or sneeze, all the basics, using the face covering, staying home to maximum extent possible, social distancing. All of this helps make sure our children are not exposed to this disease. And that's the best way to avoid this challenge because it keeps COVID out of the equation. Now, the symptoms – we've talked about several of them, but I want to add because the CDC research and definition has added additional symptoms to the equation. Persistent fever, irritability or sluggishness, abdominal pain, diarrhea and vomiting, rash, conjunctivitis, which is shown as red or pink eyes, enlarged lymph node gland in the neck, red cracked lips or red tongue, and swollen hands and feet. So, that's a lot to be aware of. Any of those symptoms you see in your child, call your health care provider, check in immediately. If you see multiple symptoms, especially important to get to your doctor, your health care provider immediately. If you don't have one, call 3-1-1 and you will be connected to a Health + Hospitals clinician immediately.

Now, right now, the number of children affected – the previous definition we use was 145. Under that definition, we've confirmed 145 kids affected, 67 of those cases tested positive for COVID-19 or had antibodies. And we did lose one child – and, again, our goal is to never lose another. We'll have updated numbers with this new definition, the MISC definition, shortly. But the bottom line is, the additional news, the additional information from the CDC allows us to hone our approach more. But the same bottom line, look for these symptoms in your child, act quickly if you see them. If they get to health care quickly, children can be brought through this safely. And that's what we all need to do together.

Okay. We're go into our daily indicators now. And, again, we've had – overall trend, fantastic, but a lot of days are mixed bags. We've got a mixed bag day today. It's a good day on one indicator, mixed on the others. We still keep making progress overall, but I want to inspire everyone, go deeper. The faster we can get through these indicators, the more thoroughly we can consolidate our success, the more chance of starting to relax restrictions. So, we’ve all got to stick with it here. So, indicator one daily number of people admitted to hospitals for suspected COVID-19, that is down. And this is a great one – down from 77 to 48 – that's amazing. Now, under 50 people admitted to the hospital in a day for COVID-19, that's a really wonderful sign. But the number of people in ICUs across our public hospitals for suspected COVID-19, that went up just a little from 469 to 475 – so, it's not a huge increase, and I keep that in mind, but it's still an increase, we need to keep going down. And then the percentage of people tested positive for COVID-19, unchanged – 11 percent. Again, overall good news, because of the overall direction. Great news on the number of people going into the hospitals, but we need to create that steady progress to get to the next stage.

Team Diaz Give Out face Masks in Parkchester

  Monday afternoon Team Diaz converged on the corner of Starling and Olmstead Avenues in Parkchester to hand out free paper and cloth face masks. Councilman Ruben Diaz Sr. candidate for Congress in the 15th District, was joined by 32nd State Senate candidate (and current 87th A.D. District Leader) John Perez, 85th A.D. candidate Kenneth Burgos, and 87th A.D. District Leader candidate Mohammed Mujumder. Several hundred face masks were given out to people who came by. 

  Councilman Diaz has mentioned that he made a mistake by endorsing the current 32nd State Senator before, but John Perez (Sergeant John Perez as he is known) the current District Leader in the 87th Assembly District is now Councilman and 15th Congressional candidate Ruben Diaz's choice for the 32nd State Senate District.

Above - (L-R) John Perez current 87th A.D. District Leader and candidate for the 32nd State Senate, Councilman Ruben Diaz Sr. candidate for the 15th Congressional District, Kenneth Burgos candidate for the 85th Assembly District, and Mohammed Mujumder candidate for 87 A.D. District Leader.  

Below - Councilman Diaz shows his candidate for the 85th Assembly District to replace outgoing Assemblyman Marcos Crespo, as he stands between candidates John Perez and Kenneth Burgos.

Nathalia Fernandez - Campaign update - nathalia@fernandezforny.com

Over the last several months my entire team has put politics almost entirely to the side in order to support our community in the Bronx. I am so proud of the work we've accomplished together and while this fight is not over, I have to ask a small favor of you.

We are only 5 short weeks away from the June Presidential Primaries, and while I've put politics in the back seat for now, I still need to make sure voters in the district turn out on June 23.

These past few months have shown us just how strong our community is -- not just in the 80th Assembly District, but in the Bronx as a whole. 

Gratefully yours,
Nathalia

EDITOR'S NOTE:

  We have deleted any reference to fundraising since Assemblywoman Fernandez does not have a primary, and we also encourage the voters of the District to come out to vote. While Assemblywoman Fernandez will not be on the ballot there will be a primary for Democratic Male District Leader between former 80th A.D. Male District Leader Marcos Sierra, and John Zacarro Jr. the current Male District Leader. 

  There will also be a primary for the open 80th A.D. Democratic Female District Leader seat between Irene Estrada and Jean Hill.

CITY SCALES UP HOMEMADE TESTING CAPACITY AND ANTIBODY TESTS FOR FIRST RESPONDERS

New Yorkers can find their closest COVID-19 testing site at nyc.gov/CovidTest

  Mayor de Blasio announced today that the first “Made in NYC” test kits are now in use at NYC Health + Hospital community testing sites citywide. By the end of this week, more than 60,000 test kits will be delivered, building on the City’s commitment to rapidly expand its testing and tracing operation.

“We are moving full steam ahead to build a massive testing apparatus from the ground up,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “Widespread testing is the key to re-opening our city, and we are using every resource at our disposal to ensure we get there safely.”

“Testing is critical to the health of New Yorkers and the future of our economy,” said James Patchett, president and CEO of the New York City Economic Development Corporation. “We took matters into our own hands by building our own tests kits. Innovations like these will lead our city and our country through this crisis.”

Made in NY Test Kits 

Led by the New York City Economic Development Corporation (EDC), the development of these test kits is the result of local institutions across the Bronx, Brooklyn and Manhattan coming together in an unprecedented effort.  

Manhattan-based Print Parts, an additive manufacturing company, is producing up to 100,000 3D printed swabs a week while the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx is producing transport medium based on a CDC recipe. The swabs and transport medium are the critical components in the production of test kits.  

These components are then assembled into completed kits by Collab, a Brooklyn-based fabrication lab. Last week, more than 5,000 test kits were delivered to community testing sites and 60,000 kits will be ready to deliver this week. 

Antibody Testing

Beginning today, first responders and healthcare personnel are eligible to receive antibody testing through a partnership with CDC. Testing has already started for OCME staff, and others who are eligible can sign up at FirstSeroSurveyNYC.com.

MISC-C Update

To align with new CDC definition of PMIS—now called multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) —the Health Department will review all PMIS cases over the past two weeks to ensure alignment with the new case criteria. An updated number of cases will be released later this week.

Currently, there are 145 patients that met the initial PMIS definition, with 67 of those cases testing positive for COVID-19 by diagnostic or serology tests. There has been one fatality.

The CDC can now confirm a link to COVID-19. Parents should watch for the following symptoms and seek care immediately if your child has:

• Persistent fever
• Irritability or sluggishness
• Abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting
• Rash
• Conjunctivitis (red or pink eyes)
• Enlarged lymph node “gland” on neck
• Red cracked lips or red tongue
• Swollen hands and feet 

Special Announcement from Assemblywoman Fernandez's Office - Mask and Hand Sanitizer Giveaway and a Conversation on Mental Health

Mask & Hand Sanitizer Giveaway

Assemblywoman Fernandez, through the generous donations from The NYC Mayor's Office and the NYS Governor's Office, is distributing FREE masks and hand sanitizers from our district office - 2018 Williamsbridge Road - on TUESDAY May 19th from 3-5pm.

Supplies are limited and will be distributed on a first come, first serve basis.

Mask, Glove & Hand Sanitizer Giveaway

Assemblywoman Fernandez, Senator Bailey, and Councilman Cohen will be giving away masks, gloves, and hand sanitizers at Lexa Bar & Grill, 357 E 204th St, at 3pm on Wednesday May 20th.

Supplies will be limited and will be distributed on a first come, first serve basis.

A Conversation on Mental Health

Assemblywoman Fernandez and Senator Biaggi will be hosting a virtual mental health webinar with special guests from the New York Psychotherapy and Counseling Center, GirlVow Inc., Union Community Health Center, Yeshiva University's Parnes Clinic, the NYC Department of Education, the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs, and the Department of Health and Mental Health.

To RSVP and receive the webinar link, please visit tinyurl.com/ya7gaz2y. For any questions, please email district80@nyassembly.gov.