Total hospitalizations 16,103 as of yesterday.
• 1,380 new COVID hospitalizations yesterday.
• Net change in hospitalizations and intubations is down.
• 478 lives lost yesterday (455 in hospitals, 23 in nursing homes)
• How long will we be on the plateau and how long and steep is the decent?

Reopening:
• Cuomo: In terms of reopening, let's use this situation to learn lessons and reimagine what we want society to be.
• Better public transportation, housing, public safety, workplace.
• Most likely Upstate will reopen before downstate. The decision will be based on infection rates, of which Upstate has fewer than downstate.
Reimagine NY Task Force:
• Will primarily focus on downstate NY and be led by local leaders.
• Gov. Cuomo reiterated the need to continue efforts to stop the spread and keep infection rates low (which is currently .09) especially as the weather warms.
• Important to remember that all areas are connected.

Testing:
• Requires all levels of government to cooperate.
• Antibody testing begins today.
• Testing is up to the states to administer and coordinate.
• Machines and equipment are received from national manufactures which results in supply chain issues.
• This issue is about more than funding as there are many material components that are involved.
• Best way for federal government to help with testing is to remedy supply chain issues.
• There is not enough testing available to record infection rate by county, additionally, the sample size would be too small for statistics to be meaningful. Regions would be better to examine because of sample size.
• There will be more testing, but there are concerns over how to reach the volume required.

Funding:
• State budget was dependent on what was received from the federal government.
• Federal government has not funded states to date.
• Federal CARES Act contains zero effort to combat shortfalls.
• Renewing bipartisan call for $500 billion in aid to states.
• If state government is excluded again schools, local governments, and hospitals are forecast to be cut by 20% each.
• Federal funding focuses on small business, financial services, and airlines, but we need for help for teachers, police officers, and other workers.
• Hazard pay for frontline workers - they should receive a 50% bonus (including airline workers).
• 41% of frontline workers are people of color.
• 2/3 of front-line workers are women.
• 1/3 of front-line workers are from low-income households.

Ready Responders:
• NYS is launching new partnership to bring healthcare services include COVID diagnostic testing to public housing residents of NYC.
• Will be partnering with Rep. Greg Meeks and Hakeem Jeffries, AG James, Speaker Heastie, and Bronx Borough President Diaz.
• Will be delivering 500K cloth masks (at least one for each resident).
Nursing Homes:
• Survey was updated so new data is expected at end of this week for posting
• According to Dr. Zucker, if one tests positive for COVID-19 they can be readmitted and precautions (e.g., PPE, testing) will be taken to protect others.

Hospitals:
• Over 20 hospitals were using hydroxychloroquine and will send results to the FDA and CDC today.
• Help is being sent to places that are being hit the hardest.
• Elective surgeries have been suspended in NY, but bed capacity has increased since start of COVID-19, so this suspension will be reexamined based on regional infection rates.
• Policy will be announced tomorrow regarding hospital vacancy rate and COVID-19.
Department of Labor:
• Over 3,100 state employees have been brought in process unemployment requests.
• 275,000 applications are now down to 4,300.
• Applications have and are being processed, so money should be seen this week.
• People that opt for a debit card instead of direct deposit will wait longer to receive money.
• DOL launched new form where one application can be filled out to determine if one is eligible for unemployment insurance and pandemic unemployment insurance.
• Numbers are released weekly in accordance with federal guidelines.