Under-appreciated reason to get a Covid test in NYC: if you test positive it will unlock a whole menu of supportive services.
* To help you quarantine at home, City will provide delivery of food and Rx if needed. Free dog walking and pet drop-in services also available.
(1/3)
* You will receive two at-home test kits for people in your household or other contacts
* You will receive a package including a digital thermometer and pulse oximeter, plus masks, hand sanitizer, and wipes.
(2/)
* You can access a free hotel room to safely isolate from your family, which include meals, Rx delivery, free wi-fi, medical staff on site, and transportation to and from hotel and medical appointments (3/)
* A contact tracer will call you if you test positive, to walk you through all the services available. (so make sure to take the call!)
* If you have questions on this or need to access services, call the City's covid hotline: 212-COVID19. (4/4)
To all of you who are skeptical about these programs, they are real and they are impactful. e.g.:
NYC is not "approaching a 2nd wave" or "at risk of a 2nd wave". We are in the 2nd wave.
Cases, positivity, hospitalizations are all increasing sharply.
It's time to start rallying New Yorkers--again--to flatten the curve. (1/)
To flatten our 2nd-wave curve, NYers should:
* Work from home if you can
* Partake in activities like indoor dining judiciously
* Avoid indoor social gatherings with people outside your household
* Get tested regularly even if you are asymptomatic
(2/)
* If you are quarantining do not leave your home unless medically necessary
* Get a flu shot if you haven't yet
* Keep up the Core Four: #WearAMask, wash your hands, stay home if you don't feel well, keep 6 ft. apart where possible (3/)
BREAKING: Amidst sharp rise in cases, NYC is ordering closure of non-essential businesses and public & non-public school in 9 neighborhoods, as of Weds a.m.
BROOKLYN: Borough Park, Midwood, Bensonhurst, Flatlands, Sheepshead Bay
QUEENS: Far Rock, Edgemere, Kew Gardens, KG Hills
Detail on 9 neighborhoods with positivity above 3%, where all schools and non-essential businesses will be closed:
In another 10 neighborhoods, where rates are not as high but are rising at a worrisome pace, the following shutdown measures will be in place as of weds:
NEW: NYC Dept of Health has sent out an alert about rising covid cases in growing # of neighb's in BK & QNS, w/ rates doubling or tripling in recent weeks.
It is *critical* that everyone in all NYC neighborhoods: 1. Avoid indoor gatherings 2. Wear masks when in public 3. Get tested (visit nyc.gov/covidtest) 4. Do not treat a positive antibody test as a license to let your guard down
New Yorkers are exhausted from this pandemic. But it's not over.
To continue a steady pace of reopenings we have *got* to double down on taking personal precautions. The risk of a citywide rebound is all too real.
BREAKING: NYC delays reopening of schools to Sept 21, in order to allow more time to make schools as safe as possible.
Teacher prep days: Sept. 10, 11, 14, 15
Remote instruction begins: Sept 16
School buildings open for blending learning: Sept 21
Teachers will now have a total of 9 prep days counting the add'l days now allowed by the opening delay.
"Based on evaluation of independent medical experts, we can now say that the NYC public school system has the most aggressive policies and greatest safeguards of any school system in America." - Michael Mulgrew, Pres. of @UFT
There are two big challenges in testing in NYC right now:
* results are taking as long 10 days in some cases
* too few people are getting tested in low-income neighborhoods
To fix this log jam we need to focus testing on the people—and communities—at greatest risk. 1/
There continues to be inequality in testing in NYC, with higher rates in upper-income areas than in Black&brown communities which have been hardest hit by the pandemic.
This is reflected in positivity rates: under 1% in wealthier zip codes, and over 15% in some poorer ones. 2/
The single largest source of testing in NYC is CityMD, which through its partnership with the City has been offering tests to all patients, regardless of why they come in. This program is reaching few uninsured NYers. It is also using up an inordinate amount of lab resources. 3/