May 21, 2020
From Governor Cuomo @ 7:32 PM on May 21:
New York's Contact Tracing Program is the most ambitious in the country.
Here's how it works: If you test positive, a COVID Contact Tracer will connect you with the support and resources you may need to quarantine, such as help getting medical care, child care, groceries or household supplies. The Tracer will work with you to identify anyone you've been in contact with over the past 14 days to trace and contain the spread of the virus. Those contacts will in turn hear from a Tracer via phone and text.
People who have come in close contact with someone who is positive are asked to stay home and limit their contact with others. By staying home during this time, IF you become sick yourself, you won't have infected other people. That's how we stop the spread. In the meantime, testing, medical and quarantine support will be arranged.
Privacy is a top priority of the Contact Tracing Program. We will not release your name to anyone. Your information is strictly confidential and will be treated as a private medical record. A contact tracer will never ask for your Social Security Number, bank or credit card numbers or any other financial information.
Note that if you get a call from a Tracer, your caller ID will in most cases say "NYS Contact Tracing." If you get a call, PLEASE answer the phone. Answering the phone will keep your loved ones and community safe and allows us to keep NY moving forward.
(Photo from Maimonides Medical Center)
Here's what else you need to know tonight:
1. Summer school will be conducted through distance learning this year to help reduce the risk of spreading Coronavirus. Meal programs and child care services for essential employees will continue. The state will make a determination on the fall semester and issue guidelines in June.
2. An update on the COVID-related illness affecting children. We are currently investigating 157 reported cases in New York of children who are experiencing a serious inflammatory illness (known as MIS-C). To date, 13 countries and 25 other states have reported cases of this COVID-related illness in children. Learn more about symptoms and what to look out for here.
3. The number of total COVID hospitalizations continues to fall. Total hospitalizations fell to 5,187, from 5,570 the day before. The number of new COVID hospitalizations fell to 246, from 295 the day before. Tragically, we lost 105 New Yorkers to the virus yesterday.
4. Due to Coronavirus, there is a shortage of blood and blood donations are desperately needed. New York State is working with blood banks to ensure safe social distancing protocols are being followed. Learn how and where you can donate at http://ny.gov/donateblood.
5. Rockland County is now eligible to resume elective surgeries and ambulatory care. The state is again permitting elective outpatient treatments in countries and hospitals without significant risk of COVID-19 surge in the near term, and a total of 51 counties now can offer elective surgeries.
6. Uninsured New Yorkers can get a free diagnostic COVID-19 test at any CityMD urgent care facility. All CityMD locations are offering nasal swab tests seven days a week, and walk-ins are accepted. Also a reminder that New York health insurers have been directed to waive all costs associated with COVID-19 testing. If you believe you have COVID symptoms, don't wait — get tested.
Tonight's "Deep Breath Moment": Captain Tom Moore, the British WWII veteran who raised more than $39 million to support health workers, recently celebrated his 100th birthday and will be awarded a knighthood by the Queen for his service to his country and for inspiring not just the United Kingdom, but the world. Capt. Moore took laps around his garden as part of a wildly successful fundraising campaign that far surpassed his original goal of raising $1,250.
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