Weekend News Brief

It was announced Friday that hair salons, barber shops and other personal care businesses can increase their capacity to 75 percent starting May 7^th.  The previous cap had been 50 percent.  Governor Cuomo also announced that he is ending the cluster strategy that he imposed by executive order in 2020 to deal with areas of the state that had higher rates of infection. The areas that still had cluster designations were all in New York City. Cuomo said that New York is winning the war against COVID.

According to popular magazine Food and Wine New York is not the number 1 state for pizza.  Instead that honor falls to New Jersey.  Connecticut is in the number 2 slot and New York comes in third.  The magazine says that the pandemic and rising costs of operating in New York made many of the Empire State’s prime pizza locations either close or move out of state.

Covid update from Friday evening at 4pm:  Genesee county has 9 new cases and 18 people have recovered.  Orleans county has 11 new cases and 15 people have recovered.  There are 69 active cases in Genesee county and 94 in Orleans.  In NY the number of people who have been fully vaccinated still hovers around a third which puts the empire state 12th in the US for highest percentage of people vaccinated.  In Genesee and Orleans counties just over a quarter of residents have been fully vaccinated.  Governor Cuomo says that vaccinations are slowing down even as eligibility and availability are opening up.  He is enlisting schools, businesses, churches and marketing campaigns to try to get people to get the shot.

Last week Genesee county sheriffs warned of a bail scam targeting elderly residents, this week 2 of the scammers will need bail money themselves.  2 suspects in Perinton were arrested when they made contact with a person posing as their grandson’s attorney.  The scammers demanded 13 thousand dollars to bail the grandson out.  The person they were scamming called their actual grandson on the phone and determined it was a scam and then called police.  One suspect, 18 year old Jamel Aciergo, was nabbed at the door, and the other, 20 year old Victor Lopez attempted to drive away and crashed into a marsh off rt 441.  It is currently unknown whether these scammers were also responsible for the calls in Genesee county but the sheriffs department warns the public to be wary and hang up and call police if you get a call asking for bail money.

The new rule about kids having to wear a mask at all times in schools has parents concerned.  CDC guidance says that kids can remove their masks if they are farther than 6 feet away in schools but New York’s new guidelines say that kids must remain masked at all times regardless of distance.  Previously kids could take their masks off at their desks or take “mask breaks” if wearing the mask was too much for them.  A Pavilion parent, Amanda Holley, has started an online petition to protest the guidance.  Superintendent Mary Kate Hoffman says that parents would do better to contact the State Health Department with their concerns.  She says “I would love to see 183 letters go out to our local senators, our representatives, to share those points of view because you’re not alone.  All of the districts in New York State are feeling the same.”