Nov 23, 2020
- This Thanksgiving isn't normal—nothing in 2020 has been. But Thanksgiving was never really about the trappings. It's always been more powerful than that. This Thanksgiving is a time to really give thanks to the people who did phenomenal things during the course of this year: The doctors and nurses, all the essential workers, all the neighbors who went out and shopped for their neighbor and helped them. We thank every person who wears a mask for their diligence. We thank every restaurant owner, business owner, bar owner who lived by the rules and who suffered economically to keep their business open. We thank every police officer, every EMS worker, every teacher. We thank every bus driver and train operator who had to stand there with hundreds of people walking past them all through COVID. And so, so many others.
This year, we show our thanks by keeping each other safe. We may be physically apart but we're spiritually together.
Here's what else you need to know tonight:
1. Total hospitalizations rose to 2,724. The positivity rate in the micro-cluster focus areas was 4.48 percent. Excluding these areas, it was 2.73 percent. Of the 191,489 tests reported yesterday, 5,906, or 3.08 percent, were positive. Sadly, we lost 33 New Yorkers to the virus.
2. New York announced new and modified COVID-19 micro-cluster zones. Part of Staten Island's Yellow Zone will become an Orange Zone. New Yellow Zones will be established in Upper Manhattan and Nassau and Suffolk Counties. New Orange Zones will also be established in Monroe County (in and around Rochester) and Onondaga County (in and around Syracuse). These changes go into effect this Wednesday, November 25, for businesses and Thursday, November 26, for schools. All the maps of the current micro-cluster zones are available here.
3. We are opening an emergency facility in Staten Island to respond to the rising cases. There were 108 hospital admissions of Staten Island residents in the past seven days (11/16-11/22), up from 27 admissions a few weeks ago (10/26-11/1). At the request of local hospitals, we will be opening an emergency facility for COVID patients at the South Beach Psychiatric Center that will utilize up to 108 beds on two floors to handle overflow for COVID-19 hospitalizations.
4. To date, New York has conducted over 18 million COVID tests. Any New Yorker can get tested and you can find a testing site near you here. You can also call 1-888-364-3065 to make an appointment at a New York State-run testing location—most sites have available appointments at drive-thru or walk-in locations.
Tonight's "Deep Breath Moment": To celebrate World Children's Day this year, Hip Hop Public Health and the Special Olympics premiered a music video to promote health and fitness. The video features over 100 young people representing 28 different countries with different styles of dance from around the world to encourage children and families to stay active during the pandemic.
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