NY Governor Seeks COVID-19 Death Benefits for FFs, Essential Workers

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Monday that he wants to provide death benefits to the family of essential workers, such as health care personnel, firefighters, police and transit workers, who have died because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cuomo said this is a way to show appreciation for their sacrifices.

“I feel a grave responsibility to our front-line workers, our essential workers who understood the danger of this COVID virus but went to work anyway because we needed them to,” he said during his daily COVID-19 news conference, which was held at the Intrepid Sea Air and Space Museum in New York City.

Cuomo began his briefing with a moment of silence to honor fallen soldiers.

The number of hospitalizations continues to decline, according to Cuomo. The number of people who died from the virus on Sunday was under 100 for the second time in three days at 96. Seventy-five people died in a hospital and 21 in nursing homes. Statewide, there were 1,249 new cases, which brings the total to 362,764.

During the question-and-answer period, Cuomo responded to a question about Staten Island officials wanting to reopen based upon their numbers. He said the different boroughs cannot be doing their own thing because it is one city. People may live in Staten Island but may be working in Manhattan.

“Sometimes, I would like the state of New York to secede and not have to deal with the federal government, but I get it,” he said.

Cuomo said that the Legislature is set to return this week. He said any legislation offered could not have a price tag associated with it.

He again pleaded again for federal aid for hazard pay and to fund state and local governments.

“We have no money. We have a $13 billion deficit. We’re now looking at cutting school aid 20%, local government aid 20%, cutting hospitals’ (funding) 20%,” he said.

“I would like to get more money to food banks right now. I would like to do more frankly for the front-line workers right now,” he added.

He also said he does not believe that a recent uptick in cases in some regions of the state is tied to reopening because it takes a couple of days after people obtain the virus for it to incubate.

“You can reopen. You can increase activity without the virus spreading. Be smart,” he said.

He pointed out that the state’s number of new cases is going down while the rest of the country is going up, accusing some states of not taking it seriously.

Locally, Warren County announced no new COVID-19 cases on Sunday and one on Saturday. That brings the total number of confirmed cases to 328 since the pandemic began.

A total of 115 involved residents in nursing homes, 11 in assisted living and 112 in the community.

Four more Warren County residents recovered from COVID-19, bringing the total to 149.

Only one COVID-19 patient is hospitalized on Monday, which is a decrease of one.

One COVID-19 patient is in critical condition in a nursing home as of Monday, which is unchanged from Sunday. The number of deaths remains unchanged at 30.

The joint Glens Falls Hospital/Warren County joint COVID-19 testing center will resume operating on Tuesday.

Washington County on Monday announced one additional COVID-19 case after none the previous day. The total is at 194. The number of recoveries stayed the same at 172 and no one was hospitalized Saturday or Sunday.

Saratoga County on Monday reported three new COVID-19 cases on top of the eight reported on Sunday, which brings the total to 461. The number of deaths is unchanged at 15 and four people are in the hospital.

Essex County is not providing updated numbers over the holiday weekend. It remains at 52 cases.

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