Afternoon News Brief
Written by Tom Tharp on November 2, 2020
Governor Cuomo and Letitia James, the Attorney General for New York state announced Sunday that they thought he distribution plan put out by the federal government for the COVID vaccine is unworkable for people of color because it uses pharmacies, doctors offices and clinics as distribution sites. The AG and governor argue that people of color do not have access to pharmacies or doctors offices and cite the number of people of color who don’t get the flu vaccine. A 2007 national institute of health study shows that minorities don’t get the flu vaccine more because they don’t trust the shot than lack of access. A 2017 study shows a lack of trust in healthcare professionals as the reason less people of color get vaccinated. AG James indicated they may use litigation to change the federal government’s plan.
Governor Cuomo has announced a new method for handling travelers from out of state. Instead of the 2 week quarantine any traveler coming from a state that does not border New York State must be able to show a negative COVID-19 test at most 3 days before they enter NY and then must quarantine for 3 days once in state. Then they must take another COVID-19 test on the 4th day and that one must come up negative. If it is positive they will have to go into mandatory quarantine. There is still the option for travelers to quarantine for the 2 weeks if they refuse to take the tests.
The prices at the pump came down a little bit this week compared to last week. In Batavia according to triple a the price for regular is 2.19, down one penny from last week and down 42 cents from last year. The New York State average is 2.23. Gabuddy.com is saying that the national price will drop below 2 dollars a gallon in the next 2 weeks.
With the switch to all cashless tolling coming up soon on the Thruway the question is, how will the system handle cars with snow on their license plates or plates that are going through the infamous Ny peel? The state says that drivers are responsible for making sure their plate is legible to the system. This means sweeping off snow before getting on the thruway and making sure the plate gets replaced if it starts to peel. Your car will have several HD photos taken so as long as one of the plates is legible the system will still work.
The bills beat the patriots 24 to 21 last night leaving the patriots with the longest losing streak in their franchise since 2002. The bills are now at 6 wins and 2 losses for the first time since 1993. The bills next game will be against the Seattle Seahawks in buffalo on Sunday.
