Similar COVID-19 patient mandate is still being implemented in homes for the disabled.

NY Post 

 It wasn’t just nursing homes.

The Cuomo administration has spent the last year quietly allowing COVID-19 patients to return to homes for the disabled — much like it did with nursing homes — and the policy remains in effect.

The state’s Office for People With Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD) issued a directive on April 10 barring the group homes from denying admission or re-admission to someone “based solely on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19.”

The order also prohibits the facilities from requiring that a hospitalized individual be tested for COVID-19 before being admitted or re-admitted.

At least 552 residents of such homes have died of the virus as of Wednesday. More than 6,900 out of the more than 34,552 who live in the facilities have been infected, the agency said.

The guidance is similar to the controversial state Health Department order issued in the early days of the pandemic that required nursing homes to accept recovering COVID-19 patients from hospitals.

The Cuomo administration has faced mounting criticism that the later-rescinded March 25 policy directive fueled outbreaks in hard-hit nursing homes. The governor has claimed that the policy followed federal guidance.

The First Lady Co-Mayor doesn't care about mentally ill people

 

 

 NY Post

 A Brooklyn nurse says he repeatedly tried to warn city First Lady Chirlane McCray about the devastating effect of reassigning psych wards to be used for COVID-19 patients — only to be ignored by her billion-dollar mental-health initiative.

Irving Campbell, a psychiatric nurse at NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist, told The Post he watched his 50-bed ward close in March to treat people with COVID-19 — leaving at least some of the hospital’s former mental patients on the street, rooting around in the trash nearby.

“My intention of reaching out was to get the support of the mayor and first lady in keeping these inpatient psychiatric beds available to the community,’’ Campbell wrote in an e-mail to a counselor with McCray’s embattled $1.25 billion mental-health group ThriveNYC in late July.

The counselor blew him off.

“I am unable to provide you with a way that you can speak directly with the Mayor or Ms. McCray,” the counselor wrote — although she suggested Campbell “continue to speak out about a need you see in your community,” according to a copy of their exchange.

Campbell then tried to reach ThriveNYC on social media and sent a letter to the mayor but got no response.

New York has lost 400 psych beds to coronavirus patients in private hospitals statewide since the pandemic broke out.

About 100 of those beds were in New York City. They included the 50 spaces at Campbell’s hospital, as well as 34 at Presbyterian’s Allen Pavilion in Upper Manhattan and 20 at Northwell Health’s Syosset Hospital on Long Island.

Campbell, who is active with the New York State Nurses Association, said that while state hospitalizations for the virus have plummeted, his unit has yet to reopen — and his union suspects this is because the hospital’s mental-health patients were largely poor, and other health-care issues generate as much as 70 times their related payments.

Chancellor Carranza proposes crisis advantage school admission changes and rails against Councilman Holden for being tardy for caring for his ill mother.

 

NY Post

New York City Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza said he doesn’t have “a nefarious plan” to use the coronavirus crisis to overhaul middle and high school admission policies, but so far he has given no hint of the “tweaks” he has in mind.

Carranza, who was caught on tape last month telling a national group of Latino school leaders, 
“Never waste a good crisis to transform a system,” seemed to back-pedal Thursday while addressing a virtual public meeting of the advisory Panel For Educational Policy.

“We are not planning a nefarious plan to use this pandemic to change policy,” the chancellor said. 
“We know there must be some tweaks to admissions, not permanent changes.”

Adding to the confusion, Mayor de Blasio at a press conference the day before bluntly spoke about using the pandemic to change the “status quo.”

“Many things are going to be reevaluated as a result of this crisis,” he said. “We are not just going to bring New York City back with the status quo that was there before. But we’re going to try to make a series of changes that favor equity and fairness.”

Both Carranza and de Blasio have voiced their disdain for selective “screened schools,” even though their own children attended them.

A DOE spokeswoman had nothing to add on the issue Friday, but parents are buzzing about the possibilities. Among those under discussion:

• A lottery system: This would eliminate all “screens” and accept students randomly, perhaps with priority fo the disadvantaged. This plan would mirror the controversial system in Brooklyn’s District 15, where the middle schools no longer select students based on report-card grades, test scores, or even auditions for performing arts programs. The District 15 lottery sets aside seats for kids from low-income families, those learning English as a new language, and the homeless.
• Use prior test scores: Schools could use scores from the 3rd- and 6th-grade state exams. Schools with a ranking system could simply plug in metrics from the previous year. But it’s not the fairest way to go, parents say, because kids were told that the 4th- and 7th-grade scores counted for admissions and tried harder then.

NY Post

 Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza angrily scolded a City Council member for being late to a virtual public hearing, ignoring the elected official’s explanation that he was tending to his ailing 96-year-old mother.

Carranza’s outburst, which came during a meeting of the advisory Panel for Educational Policy on Thursday, recalled the time he walked out of a Queens district meeting when parents complained their children were physically and sexually assaulted. He later accused the parents of “grandstanding.”

This time, Carranza blew up at Queens lawmaker Robert Holden, who was not logged in to the video meeting when called upon about 7:30 p.m.

“I had a number of issues to handle tonight including my mother in a nursing home fighting for her life and may have COVID,” Holden explained when he was finally called upon two hours later.

 Holden then criticized the chancellor’s recent comment to school leaders — “Never waste a good crisis,” as reported in The Post.

 That comment “was an insult to everyone fighting COVID,” Holden said. “That comment was disgraceful, and he should apologize for it.”

The MTA was unprepared for a pandemic despite an early plan to defend against it

THE CITY

Preparations for a pandemic have been taking shape for years at New York City Transit, with the agency outlining plans to protect workers and riders while stockpiling supplies.

But as the coronavirus crisis escalates — with seven MTA employees among those to die from COVID-19 — transit union leaders say workers are deeply concerned over a shortage of protective equipment.

“It looks good on paper, but in a lot of cases, it’s not happening — I have no wipes, I can’t get N95 masks and it’s crazy,” said JP Patafio, a vice president for TWU Local 100. “What good is a plan if you’re not going to take stuff off the shelf when you need it?”

THE CITY obtained a 2012 copy of New York City Transit’s pandemic plan to “prevent or minimize illness among employees,” to limit service disruptions and maintain “an environment that is safe for both our employees and our customers.”

But a former MTA chief safety officer said the plan — similar to ones transit agencies across the country put in place after the 2009 swine flu pandemic — assumed a “rapid national response.”

“These plans don’t contemplate, nor were they required to contemplate, a sustained nationwide response with the associated shortages of supplies that we are currently seeing,” said David Mayer, the MTA’s chief safety officer from December 2014 to June 2018. “I don’t think these plans expected the level of service cuts, nor the duration of response that we are experiencing.”

The “Pandemic Plan Policy Instruction” maps out the need for subway and bus service reductions due to rising absenteeism, instructs transit workers to limit face-to-face contact with the public and not shake hands.

 The 2012 plan includes keeping a six-week supply of protective equipment. MTA officials say they maintained the stockpiles, but workers have complained they can’t get protective equipment.

WCBS 880 

 The MTA confirmed Monday that five more employees have died due to complications from COVID-19. 

"This is a devastating day," NYCT Interim President Sarah Feinberg told WCBS 880.

The employees were identified as Scott Elijah, a 15-year track worker with the Combined Action/Emergency Response Unit based in Long Island City; Caridad Santiago,a cleaner for 13 years assigned to the Stations Department in the Bronx; Ernesto Hernandez, a bus operator for 15 years most recently working out of the Jackie Gleason Bus Depot; Victor Zapana, a supervisor in the Stations Department who worked from various locations throughout the subway system for almost 30 years; and Warren Tucker, a bus mechanic for almost five years at the MTA Bus Company, assigned this year to the Central Maintenance Facility in East New York.

“We are heartbroken at the passing of five heroic members of the New York City Transit family. Scott, Caridad, Ernesto, Victor and Warren were all inspiring and valued colleagues, well-loved and well-respected by their co-workers," Feinberg and Acting MTA Bus Company President Craig Cipriano said in a joint statement. "They dedicated their lives to serving the public and keeping New Yorkers moving. This is a tragic loss for the city. Their families and friends are in our prayers during this incredibly difficult and painful time.”

Last week, two transit workers passed away due to coronavirus and a third died trying to evacuate a train that was on fire in Harlem.

Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez urges federal minimun wage increase at private event in an expensive hipster bar

 

NY Daily News

Nothing says working class hero like $16 avocado toast.

New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez returned to her bartender roots Friday, mixing drinks and serving food for an hour at a recently-opened eatery in her district as part of a push for a national wage hike for tipped workers.

But the location for the boozy event — The Queensboro in Jackson Heights — doesn’t exactly cater to Ocasio-Cortez’s working class constituents.

The one-year-old gastro pub charges a whopping $20 for a plate of rigatoni with ragu, $13 for spring pea salad and a princely $16 for avocado toast.

Pricey fare wasn’t on Ocasio-Cortez’s mind Friday, though, as she served up comped cocktails, wine and pizza to bar workers and labor group representatives as part of their “One Fair Wage” campaign.

 “The federal tipped minimum wage is $2.13 an hour,” Ocasio-Cortez said in between slinging drinks. “That is unacceptable. Any job that pays $2.13 an hour is not a job — it’s indentured servitude.”

 The low federal minimum is meant to be supplemented with tips bumping up the total hourly wage to at least $7.25. In New York City, the minimum service wage is $10, provided workers receive an additional $5 in tips.

But the 29-year-old congresswoman, who worked as a bartender in Manhattan for four years before her election last year, said labor needs more “dignity” than that. 

No argument here about the necessity to raise the min. wage but to choose this venue to promote awareness about it? This would have more merit if Alexandria served tables in a diner or bottles of Bud at a dive bar instead of a pretentious bar that sells a platter of $16 beer-battered blowfish tails (???)

What makes this even more insincere is that this event and location was kept from the public for a week. As well as the containment of the press (available photos and videos of the congresswoman but apparently no questions asked) making this more of public relations stunt than a policy proposal.

Johnny vs. Tony

From City Limits:

The two men agree on most policy issues. They both disagree, for instance, with Mayor de Blasio’s bid to change the entrance process for the city’s specialized high schools. Voters will, of course, decide what the race is about, but if the candidates have anything to say about it, the contest will come down to whether the supposed practical benefits of Avella’s having joined the IDC outweigh the allege damage that did to the chances for a Democratic senate.

Both men appeared on Max & Murphy on WBAI this Wednesday. Below are each of their interviews:

New notification procedure for permanent homeless shelters

From Crains:

...after many hushed negotiations with state Assembly members, DHS decided to change the approval process for shelters in a bid to improve frayed community relations.

Under the current policy, a company or nonprofit that wants to open a shelter must notify the community before submitting an application to the city. But it has no responsibility to follow up. After approving a long-term shelter application, DHS holds a public hearing near City Hall at the Mayor's Office of Contract Services.

But advocates assert there is little advance notice of the hearings, and that they aren't accessible to community members who live outside Manhattan.

The new policy requires DHS to give the community board and all elected officials who represent the district that receives a shelter a full 45 days' notice before the hearing in lower Manhattan. Within those 45 days, a representative of either DHS or the provider that proposed the shelter also will be required to attend a community board meeting in the district to discuss the project.

The new policy goes into effect immediately but does not apply to emergency shelters.

"We are looking into expanding and re-evaluating the current requirement as a means of improving the notification system" for emergency shelters, said a DHS spokeswoman.

In other words, expect more Westways and Pan Ams in the future.