Breaking News

More than 9,000 recovering coronavirus patients here in New York were released from hospitals into nursing homes early in the pandemic. That’s according to the Associated Press, which reports over 9,000 patients were sent to hundreds of nursing homes. That’s over 40% higher than what had been previously released by the state health department. The New York Post is also reporting top Cuomo aide Melissa DeRosa privately apologized to Democratic lawmakers for withholding the state’s nursing-home death toll, having done so out of concern the right numbers would “be used against” them by federal prosecutors. DeRosa indicated during Wednesday’s COVID conference call that it appears the Department of Justice was no longer focused on New York’s nursing home deaths. Overall, more than 45,000 people have died of COVID in New York, second only to California.

COVID-19 by the numbers now, here in Rockland, we lost three more to COVID, the total is 858. We’ve got 59 hospitalized confirmed with coronavirus, and 1,743 active cases. Our total case count is 36,247, that’s 186 more than Thursday.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is setting up two community-based mass-vaccination sites in Brooklyn and Queens, exclusively for their residents, while Rockland still has no state vaccination site to call its own. The FEMA sites in the city came at the request of governor Andrew Cuomo, who says the sites will help some of the state’s hardest hit communities…

But he wouldn’t say yet where those sites are. Rockland County Executive Ed Day has been frustrated by the governor’s failure to help Rockland out, and said Friday having a state-run facility could help get more Rocklanders vaccinated…

The governor expects the FEMA sites in the city to serve as national models for vaccine distribution. The two sites will vaccinate around 3,000 Brooklyn and Queens residents each day over an eight-week period.

New York expects to see a slight increase in COVID vaccine doses coming from the federal government, but the governor says we still need more. In his COVID conference call yesterday, Andrew Cuomo said the White House is sending five percent more vaccine over the next three weeks…

Cuomo says Pfizer and Moderna are ramping up production of additional doses but unfortunately, they can’t make it fast enough to make a significant dent in the ten million that are currently waiting for shots.

COVID-19 by the numbers now, here in Rockland, we lost two more to COVID, the total is 853. We’ve got 66 hospitalized confirmed with coronavirus, and 1,838 active cases. Our total case count is 35,927, that’s 158 more than Tuesday.

Another storm is barreling down on Rockland with perhaps another coming later this week. County plows are out salting the roads, but Rockland Superintendent of Highways “Skip” Vezzetti says state roads like the Palisades Parkway are and can be pretty dangerous…

With more snow this season already than in many of the last winters combined, Clarkstown supervisor George Hoehmann says it’s been a challenge to keep supplies on hand…

There have already been several accidents on the Palisades and elsewhere, so please take it easy if you have to be out on the roads today.

About 5-6” of snow came down and blanketed Rockland County yesterday. Crews were well-prepared in advance for this one, which came in quietly and left quietly as well.

There were no significant power outages to report. Yesterday’s storm did force the Rockland County Department of Health to cancel their COVID-19 vaccination clinic. It was originally slated for 9 AM – 1 PM Sunday. It’s been rescheduled for today from 1 PM – 7 PM. If you had a vaccination appointment for Sunday you can get it today, just show up in Pomona at your convenience between 1 and 7 today. If you can’t get there today, call the County’s COVID-19 Hotline at 845-238-1956 to cancel. The county says you’ll be prioritized for a rescheduled appointment when they get their next batch of vaccine from the state sometime this week.

Rockland’s County Executive Ed Day says though he qualifies, he won’t be getting his shot just yet…

COVID-19 by the numbers now, here in Rockland, the death toll remained at 845, the same since Thursday. We’ve got 78 hospitalized confirmed with coronavirus, and 2,092 active cases. Our total case count is 35,252, that’s 158 more than Friday.