Weekend News Brief
Written by Tom Tharp on February 13, 2021
Its not just republicans who want Governor Cuomo held accountable for the nursing home deaths during the early months of the COVID pandemic, 14 democratic state senators have joined the call to have Cuomo stripped of his emergency powers and an investigation launched into the governor and state health director Howard Zucker. Assemblyman Steve Hawley, Senator Chris Jacobs, and Senator Ed Rath joined republicans across the state earlier this week in the same call after information about a phone call where a top Cuomo aide, Melissa DeRosa, admitted to the governor’s office withholding the nursing home death numbers because Cuomo’s administration feared a federal investigation. The phone call was to democrat lawmakers.
Rochester Regional Health and UMMC will begin allowing visitors on Tuesday the 16th with restrictions. At UMMC the visiting hours will be between 9am and 1pm and 3pm and 6pm. Only 1 visitor allowed at a time and visitors must be 19 or older. No visitors allowed in emergency, with cancer patients, with covid positive patients or people awaiting covid test results or with inpatient behavioral health. Exceptions to these rules are pediatric patients who can have one support person there at all times. In Labor and delivery there may be one visitor and a doula. People with developmental or mental disabilities including dementia can have 1 full time support person there. And in end of life situations there can be 2 people the bedside at once.
COVID Update from Friday Evening: Genesee county has 12 new cases and 12 people have recovered. Orleans County has 14 new cases and 9 people have recovered. There are 82 active cases in Genesee county and 65 in Orleans.
The Holland Land Office Museum will be hosting a virtual guest speaker Michael Broccolo for a presentation titled “Underground Railroad in the Niagara Frontier” starting Thursday the 18th at 7pm. There is unlimited availability via zoom and all the information to join is on the Land Office museum’s website. There is limited in person seating at the Museum for 12 people but you must preregister by calling 585 343 4727. A donation will be taken up at the museum during the presentation.
Fantasy Island has been closed since 2019 but hope springs eternal for someone to pick it up and open the gates once more. Grand Island Town Supervisor John Whitney says a “notable entity” with a track record in family recreation has approached owners Apex Parks Group and are working through the financing options. Apex had said they would work to reopen the park with new partners but reports of bad smells and heavy vandalism, plus trucks seen removing restaurant equipment have damped hopes of the park returning.
