Nov 2, 2020
- Tomorrow is Election Day and your final chance to make your voice heard. If you haven't cast your vote yet during New York's Early Voting or through returning an absentee ballot, be sure to vote in-person tomorrow. And if you voted absentee and haven't mailed in your ballot yet you can drop it off at any polling place tomorrow. New Yorkers can look up their Election Day polling place here. And to ensure voter safety, polling sites will have protections including social distancing markers, hand sanitizer and more. Masks or face coverings are required inside poll sites. Go Vote, NY!
Here's what else you need to know tonight:
1. The positivity rate in the "micro-cluster" focus areas was 3.5 percent yesterday. The statewide positivity rate excluding these areas was 1.48 percent. Of the 96,101 tests reported yesterday, 1,633, or 1.7 percent, were positive. Total hospitalizations were at 1,151. Sadly we lost 14 New Yorkers.
2. New York announced a new protocol allowing out-of-state travelers to "test out" of the State's mandatory 14-day quarantine. Starting Wednesday, November 4th, travelers must be tested within three days prior to landing in New York, quarantine for at least three days upon arrival, and get tested on the fourth day of arrival. If travelers receive a negative test on the fourth day of their quarantine, they can exit quarantine. Read more about the State's new guidelines.
3. An additional $10 million is being dedicated to the Nourish NY program. So far, this program has successfully bridged the gap between our families, our food banks, and our farmers, directing 32.8 million pounds of produce, dairy and meat to families in need. I'm thrilled that with this new funding, this critical program will continue, allowing New York's emergency food providers to purchase surplus products from New York farmers and dairy manufacturers through the end of the year, including during the holiday season. Especially now, during this global pandemic, no New Yorker should go to bed hungry.
4. Tomorrow, November 3rd, is the deadline for vehicle inspections and registrations. Any New Yorker who must renew registrations, non-driver IDS and inspections that lapsed during the pandemic must do so by tomorrow at the New York Department of Motor Vehicles. Some of these services can be done online.
Tonight's "Deep Breath Moment": Every year, Equinox, a human services nonprofit based in Albany, hosts the largest Thanksgiving dinner in the Capital Region. Despite the pandemic, the Thanksgiving dinner will go on this year. Usually hundreds of volunteers help prepare 11,000 meals at the Empire State Plaza and this year to protect both the volunteers, delivery workers and fellow New Yorkers, the meals will be delivered rather than being prepared in-person.
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