Weekend News Brief
Written by Tom Tharp on November 28, 2020
NY State COVID Update: Positivity rates in micro cluster zones have increased from 4.9 percent to 5.69 percent and the NY state average has increased from 3.18 percent to 3.72 percent. 39 people passed away from COVID on Friday. Genesee Orleans county health departments will report cases from Thursday through Monday on November 30th.
Wyoming County Community Health system has released new restrictions to hospital visitation to better deal with COVID. Only one person and a doula will be allowed in labor and delivery, Pediatric patients can have one support person at a time, Endo of life and medically necessary patients can only have one visitor at a time. Surgery patients cannot have visitors but must be dropped off at the entrance of the hospital and picked up afterwards at the entrance. They want to assure all patients that the emergency rooms and hospitals are safe and there is no reason to delay if you have a medical need or emergency.
The new cashless tolling system is up and running on the thruway and this has left many asking what happened to the toll workers? The State Thruway Authority set up career development and training opportunities for those who would be losing their jobs. There was tuition assistance, CDL training, and civil service exams given. Workers were given 3 years notice. Even with all that the thruway employee union has 346 part-time employees, 64 full-time employees and 15 managers all filing for unemployment as there are no other state jobs they could take or were qualified for. There are so far no other moves from the state to help thee workers find alternate employment.
Even though black Friday has passed many businesses keep the sales going through the end of the month or even longer. There has never been a more important time to shop local! Our news partner the Batavian has a list of all the local restaurants and food related businesses and their hours and services. Also be sure to check out local business and see what great things they have to offer.
With holiday shopping moving mostly online there are a lot of scams to watch out for. Here are some tips to avoid getting bilked of your money: Try to avoid third-party websites. Shop where you’ve shopped before. If you have to make an account to purchase from a website, use a unique password. Pay with a credit card or paypal if possible. Follow your gut! If the deal seems too good to be true, it probably is. And of course, you can shop local from people you can trust and buying items you can hold in your hand at time of purchase.
