App NEWS
Southern Tier counties open online portals for reporting at-home COVID tests
|
Residents can use their county’s online portal to report at-home COVID-19 test results, and access isolation order paperwork to provide to their employer.
App NEWS
NY county health departments no longer required to do COVID contact tracing
|
“The big change for New Yorkers is that if you test positive, you should no longer expect a call from your health department.”
App NEWS
Despite high demand for snow plow drivers, NY officials say they’re equipped to handle winter
|
There’s been a high demand for snow plow drivers this season, and the New York State Department of Transportation has had challenges finding enough of them.
App NEWS
Broome County has over 4,000 active COVID cases, but hospitalizations remain steady
|
Broome County continues to see record numbers of COVID-19 cases, with 3,250 new cases in the past week. But County Executive Jason Garnar says for now, hospitalizations don’t seem to be increasing at the same rate.
Uncategorized
Air ambulance blood transfusion bill signed into law
|
A New York bill allowing air ambulances to carry blood for emergency transfusion was signed into law last week. Local officials say the measure is a crucial step toward saving lives.
App NEWS
Broome County sees record number of active COVID-19 cases
|
“The next month will likely be the most difficult month that we’ve ever seen in the pandemic.”
App NEWS
Broome County officials warn of rising COVID-19 cases, encourage limited holiday gatherings
|
Given the spike in COVID-19 cases, county officials are advising residents to make sure they stay safe during holiday gatherings.
App NEWS
Hochul in Broome County promises more COVID-19 testing, mask enforcement, hospital staffing
|
The governor gave updates on the current mask mandate, hospital capacity and testing, in the midst of a surge in COVID-19 cases across the state.
App NEWS
Broome County opens mass vaccination site in Johnson City
|
“We are racing against the clock now. It’s important that when people want to get vaccinated or they want to get boosted, that they can do that immediately.”
App NEWS
County governments grapple with enforcing NY mask mandate
|
Since the statewide mask mandate was announced last week, New York’s counties have grappled with how to implement it. Certain counties have embraced the mandate. Others have refused to carry it out.
Addiction
NY comptroller audit finds drug treatment programs overdue for recertification
|
“Some of these programs will be going on for years without the kind of review that they should be having.”
App NEWS
First case of Omicron detected in Broome County
|
A total of 12 cases have been detected in New York state so far. Nineteen states across the U.S. have reported cases of Omicron.
App NEWS
Report: Southern Tier hospitals placed hundreds of liens on patients’ homes
|
“The first tenet in medicine is to do no harm. Suing people, filing liens on their homes, ruining their credit… that’s doing harm.”
binghamton
North Side Binghamton grocery store expands food benefits for shoppers
|
“Forty-five percent of the people that shop here at the Greater Good grocery are on SNAP benefits. This will benefit a whole ton of people on the North Side of Binghamton.”
App NEWS
Southern Tier still without mass vaccination site
|
Despite an increase in COVID-19 cases, fairly low vaccination rates and widespread booster rollout, the Southern Tier still has no state-run mass vaccination site.
App NEWS
Willow Point Nursing Home closes another unit due to staffing shortages
|
Staffing shortages at Broome County’s Willow Point Nursing Home have forced officials to declare a state of emergency.
App NEWS
Broome County officials encourage booster shots as COVID-19 cases spike
|
Broome County continues to see a spike in COVID-19 cases, with 138 new cases announced on Friday. The county currently has over 900 active cases, and a 7% positivity rate.
App NEWS
How one Steuben County family deals with the emotional aftermath of flooding
|
“Now every time we see it rain, or flood warning, we get scared and we flee our house.”
911 Response Time
Otsego County ambulance service will help support volunteer emergency squads
|
“It’s not because the volunteers aren’t trying, they’re doing the very best they can. But the number of volunteers are dwindling.”
App NEWS
Broome County sees spike in COVID-19 cases
|
County officials attributed the rise in cases to residents socializing over Halloween weekend.
App NEWS
New community health clinic in Elmira will provide preventative care
|
“We want to help offer these necessary health screenings to members of the community so that we can begin to address these various health and social needs, because they’re not separate, they’re actually connected.”
App NEWS
Steuben County adopts ‘Test to Stay’ policies in schools
|
The measure would allow students to take a rapid test every day for a week, rather than quarantine, after potential exposure to COVID.
Health
Broome County officials prepare for federal vaccine mandate
|
“You could probably assume that we have the same type of vaccination rate that the rest of Broome county does. So about a third of our sixteen to seventeen hundred employees are probably not vaccinated.”
News
GOP candidate declares victory in Cortland mayoral race
|
Republican candidate Scott Steve declared victory in Cortland’s mayoral race over Tuesday night. He leads Democrat Bruce Tytler by just over 200 votes.
App NEWS
A third of Tompkins County hospitalizations were breakthrough cases
|
“The data clearly shows that we have a vulnerable population in our seniors, even if they’re vaccinated. So the rest of us need to do everything possible to help protect them.”
App NEWS
Medicaid Home Health Program Allows People To Hire Their Own Aides
|
“If you’re disabled, and you don’t get to speak for yourself, then you lose your voice.”
App NEWS
Broome Hospitalizations Increasing, County Officials Say
|
“Your community, your neighbors, are working in those ERs around the clock, and they are tired, and they are getting really taxed.”
addiction treatment
New York Attorney General Announces Opioid Settlement Funds For Southern Tier
|
“It’s important, again, that we use these funds to provide lifesaving drugs, and lifesaving treatment.”
App NEWS
Amid Staffing Shortages, Any Loss Of Healthcare Workers Can Have An Impact
|
“People are tired, and we’ve seen a significant resurgence here. There’s a significant demand in our emergency rooms, in our COVID unit, in our ICU, and so, we need all hands on deck.”
App NEWS
Gillibrand Pushes For Investment In Home Health With Binghamton Advocates
|
“More than 820,000 Americans are on the waitlist to receive care. Families may have to wait as long as five years, to get home care services that they need for their loved ones who are aging or disabled.”
Antigen Testing
Broome County Reopens Rapid Testing Site
|
“Our numbers had gotten so low that we did not need to continue the rapid testing site. But the numbers are going up.”
App NEWS
As Cases Rise, Broome County Struggles To Find Staff For Contact Tracing
|
“A lot of our staff is out doing their regulatory jobs, that need to happen, and it leaves us less infrastructure for doing the case investigation.”
1199 SEIU
Healthcare Workers At Ithaca Nursing Home Rally Over Contract
|
“Our very important caregivers, our essential caregivers, you called them heroes a year ago, and now you’re expecting them to take cuts to their vital benefits.”
App NEWS
Hartwick College President Margaret Drugovich Plans To Retire
|
“I feel confident that the College is poised for even greater success in the years to come.”
App NEWS
Steuben County Sees Uptick Of COVID-19 Cases Among Children
|
“Last year, when everything really started way way back, there was this myth that kids can’t get it, and kids can’t spread it. And that’s obviously been proven way false.”
Uncategorized
Educators Say Pandemic Made Training Nursing Students More Difficult
|
“A lot of the older adult care facilities completely shut us out, just for safety purposes, and kind of not bringing outsiders into their communities.”
Rural Health Desk
Residents Live With The Effects Of Chronic Water Damage
|
“Not fixing something that you know needs to be fixed now, because the money just doesn’t allow for it at this moment.”
App NEWS
Broome County Officials Warn Of Potential Healthcare Staff Shortages
|
“It’s going to be very, very difficult to provide the same level of healthcare if we are, all of a sudden, starting to see people walk off the job and leave the healthcare industry.”
Uncategorized
Vestal Central Schools Prepare For In-Person Learning
|
“You have to be at a point where you have plans in place where you can adjust accordingly, and still maintain an education for our students.”
Antigen tests
Home COVID Tests Are Not Perfect, Health Officials Remind Residents
|
“The PCR testing is the gold standard, it is the most sensitive and accurate to run to determine the results. The antigen testing is a little bit less reliable.”
App NEWS
Nursing Homes And The New Vaccine Requirement
|
“I’m sure we stand to lose some staff, and we’d hate to see that happen.”
App NEWS
COVID Transmission “High” In Broome, Chenango And Delaware Counties
|
“At the current rate, things have the potential to get out of control. And the last thing anybody wants to see is another shutdown.”
App NEWS
COVID-19 Cases Deemed “Substantial” In Broome, Delaware and Otsego Counties
|
“We’re talking about one to two new cases, daily, sometimes zero cases daily, to about 30 new cases per day.”
Uncategorized
Uptick Of COVID-19 Cases In Tompkins And Chenango Counties
|
Tompkins and Chenango Counties had “substantial” levels of transmission.
air pollution
Western Wildfires Cause Air Quality Hazards Across New York
|
“The fires aren’t going to go away, and the jet stream isn’t going to change, so we could even see days like this in August, or in October.”
App NEWS
Recent CDC Numbers Fuel Push For Overdose Prevention Centers In NY
|
“Especially with that surge of the overdose numbers, it’s not going away, so why not just try it?”
Addiction
Recovery Center Holds On To Remote Meetings
|
“Our numbers in person dwindled down to zero because we weren’t even in the building. But the reach that we made tripled.”
Anaplasmosis
Tick-Borne Illness, Rarer Than Lyme, On The Rise In New York
|
“Our impression is that probably, you can find five percent, maybe even up to ten percent in areas, it definitely seems to be increasing.”
App NEWS
Gov. Cuomo Enacts Opioid Settlement Fund
|
“It’s important that these companies pay up, it’s also important that the money go to where it was intended.”
Addiction
A Look At A Lawsuit Filed By NY Municipalities Over Opioid Crisis
|
“In my view, the county taxpayers shouldn’t foot a bill for a crisis that we didn’t create.”
Health
Unemployment Rates For New Yorkers With Disabilities Rose During The Pandemic
|
“It was a cycle that individuals were kind of in the hamster wheel on, and some of them are just getting back to comfortable being in the stores now.”
App NEWS
Rural Broome DMV Reopens After Closing Amid Pandemic
|
“We’re very happy to be back again, helping to serve the rural community here in the Harpursville area.”