Afternoon News Brief

Drug treatment professionals are on alert after a person in Oneida tested positive for the drug carfentanil.  The highly addictive and in many cases deadly man-made opioid is considered to be 10 thousand times more powerful than morphine and 100 times more potent than fentanyl.  In normal use the drug is used as a tranquilizer for elephants.  Drug dealers usually mix it with other drugs to make them stronger and this leads to overdoses at higher rates.  Oneida county officials say a single grain of salt sized dose can kill.  Chief Clinical officer for GCASA Kathy Hodgins says they are prepared to test anyone suspected of using carfentanil but there have not been any cases reported in Genesee or Orleans counties.  Officials warn that the drug is so powerful that even multiple doses of Narcan may not be able to stop an overdose from killing the person.

COVID update:  Genesee county has no new cases and 8 people have recovered.  There are 8 new people on travel quarantine.  Orleans county has 8 new cases and 13 people have recovered.  There are 10 new people on travel quarantine.  There are a total of 9 active cases in Genesee county and 13 in Orleans.

Governor Cuomo announced today that 5 more states although he didn’t say which ones, are now on the travel quarantine list.  According to the rules that Cuomo put in place along with the governors of Connecticut and New Jersey both of those states would have to go onto the list starting this week as they are also experiencing higher than 10 percent positive rates.  But Cuomo says that imposing the quarantines on new jersey and Connecticut would be unworkable as there is too much work travel between the three states.  The governor of Connecticut says that he will change the rules for travel restrictions as quarantining ¾ of the united states is unmanageable.  43 states are now on the travel quarantine list as case numbers have been skyrocketing across the country. There is good news though, as the number of cases may be going through the roof the number of deaths per day continues to fall going from an average of a thousand a day in September to less than 700 a day average.

Batavia city schools have unveiled their new Batavia pride campaign called Cant mask Batavia pride!  The campaign seeks to instill pride in Batavia and the community and is giving away Batavia devil head on a stick masks and asking people in the community to record a 30 second or less video with the mask.  People are encouraged to say a positive and encouraging message for the students, staff or families of Batavia CSD.  There is also a new app available on android or iPhone called Batavia CSD, NY.

The bills failed to topple the champion chiefs on Monday night in a 26 to 17 loss.  The bills got a field goal and 2 touchdowns but couldn’t keep up with the chiefs running game.  Buffalo still leads the AFC East and will play the New York Jets on Sunday afternoon.