State of Shutdown - Pushing New York Forward in the Capital Region

State of Shutdown – Covid-19

When we re-open our economy in Saratoga County the decisions will be based on the state of the entire Capital Region

The globe has been infected with a very contagious virus that could be deadly to our most vulnerable. New York has become one of the worst infected. It was devasting to see the southern part of New York go from one case to a world epicenter of Covid-19 within a months’ time.

New York State declared a State of Emergency on March 7, 2020. One week later, Saratoga County confirmed community spread within the county followed by a confirmed case of Covid-19 in the Town of Ballston. On March 16th the Town of Ballston declared a Local State of Emergency. On March 18th all New York Schools were closed. By March 20th the state ordered 100 percent reduction of non-essential workforce. On April 17th the Governor signed a law requiring any individual over age two and able to medically tolerate a face-covering shall cover their nose and mouth with a mask or cloth face-covering when in a public place and not able to maintain social distancing is slowing the spread.

Thank you to the hard working essential workers that never missed a beat and continue to keep our community strong. Thank you to Saratoga Sews that made masks for free to those essential workers and our most vulnerable neighbors. Thank you for neighbors helping neighbors. Thanks to everyone that stayed home to protect our front line essential workers and most vulnerable to this highly contagious virus.

As of April 28th, the Covid19 Tracker on the New York State Health Department website shows 299,691 New York residents tested positive for Covid-19 with 18,015 deaths. In Saratoga County there have been 342 positive cases with 11 deaths. See the Saratoga County chart by town by clicking HERE

New York's economy has been nearly shut down during this pandemic with millions of people out of work and sales tax revenue at a devasting low point.

Most of the Town of Ballston’s funding is directly from a portion of the Saratoga County sales tax revenue which has shrunk considerably.

We as neighbors are saddened by the number of deaths and will continue to protect the more vulnerable. As we move closer to re-opening our local economy, businesses are looking on how to do it wisely. As the reports show, our actions of social distancing are working. Social distancing practices as well as the added directive requiring residents to wear masks statewide is slowing the spread.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
UPDATED APRIL 29, 2020

Please note that information changes as State and Federal directives are issued.

Schools and nonessential businesses will stay closed through May 15th at which time the continued closure shall be re-evaluated. No school shall be subject to a diminution in school aid due to failure to meet the 180 day in session requirement as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, provided their closure does not extend beyond the term set. School districts must continue plans for alternative instructional options, distribution and availability of meals, and childcare, with an emphasis on serving children of essential workers, and continue to first use any remaining vacation or snow days.

All people in New York are to wear masks or face coverings in public, including when taking public or private transportation or riding in for-hire vehicles.

Preliminary Phase II results of Antibody Testing Study show 14.9% of the total state population have COVID-19 antibodies.

New York State is expanding diagnostic testing criteria to allow all FDNY and NYPD officers, first responders, health care workers, transit workers and essential employees to be tested for COVID-19 even if they aren't symptomatic.

New York State is now conducting 30,000 diagnostic tests for COVID-19 per day.

Phase one of reopening New York will include opening construction and manufacturing functions with low risk.

Phase two of reopening New York will open certain industries based on priority and risk level. Businesses considered "more essential" with inherent low risks of infection in the workplace and to customers will be prioritized, followed by other businesses considered "less essential" or those that present a higher risk of infection spread. As the infection rate declines, the pace of reopening businesses will be increased.

New York State regions must not open attractions or businesses that would draw a large number of visitors from outside the local area.

There will be two weeks in between each phase to monitor the effects of the re-opening and ensure hospitalization and infection rates are not increasing.

The phased re-opening will also be based on individual business and industry plans that include new measures to protect employees and consumers, make the physical workspace safer and implement processes that lower risk of infection in the business. The state is consulting with local leaders in each region and industry to formulate these plans.

Thirty-five counties have been approved to resume elective outpatient treatments. This was not done by region but by county.

The state will allow elective outpatient treatments to resume in counties and hospitals without significant risk of COVID-19 surge in the near term.

The counties now eligible are:
Allegany, Broome, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Chenango, Delaware, Dutchess, Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Genesee, Herkimer, Jefferson, Lewis, Livingston, Madison, Monroe, Niagara, Oneida, Onondaga, Ontario, Orleans, Oswego, Putnam, Saratoga, Schoharie, Schuyler, St. Lawrence, Steuben, Sullivan, Tompkins, Ulster, Wayne, Wyoming and Yates.

Apart from the medical field, which is being analyzed by county, reopening the economy will happen in stages by region.

The phased plan operates on a regional basis, and each region must follow the guidelines as part of the reopening plan. An Advisory Board has been created and the members reflect the large span of businesses affected by the state shut down. You can see the complete list of members HERE

CAPITAL REGION RE-OPENING GUIDELINES
from the state website on April 29, 2020

Counties in the Capital Region include Albany, Columbia, Green, Rensselaer, Schenectady, Saratoga, Warren and Washington.

To put the impact of Covid-19 in our region in comparison to the whole state, the Capital Region consisting of 8 counties has to date 2,719 positive cases and 96 deaths.

• CDC Guidelines: Based on CDC recommendations, once a region experiences a 14-day decline in the hospitalization rate they may begin a phased re-opening.

• Priority Industries for Re-opening: Businesses in each region will re-open in phases. Phase one will include restarting construction and manufacturing functions with low risk. Phase two will open certain industries based on priority and risk level. Businesses considered "more essential" with inherent low risks of infection in the workplace and to customers will be prioritized, followed by other businesses considered "less essential" or those that present a higher risk of infection spread. Regions must not open attractions or businesses that would draw a large number of visitors from outside the local area.

• Business Precautions: Each business and industry must have a plan to protect employees and consumers, make the physical workspace safer and implement processes that lower risk of infection in the business.

• Building Health Care Capacity: To maintain the phased re-opening plan, each region must have at least 30 percent of hospital beds and ICU beds available after elective surgeries resume.

• Testing Regimen: Regions must implement a testing regimen that prioritizes symptomatic persons and individuals who came into contact with a symptomatic person and conducts frequent tests of frontline and essential workers. Regions must maintain an appropriate number of testing sites to accommodate its population and must fully advertise where and how people can get tested. The region must also use the collected data to track and trace the spread of the virus.

• Tracing System: There must be at least 30 contact tracers for every 100,000 people. The region must also monitor the regional infection rate throughout the re-opening plan.

• Isolation Facilities: Regions must present plans to have rooms available for people who test positive for COVID-19 and who cannot self-isolate.

• Regional Coordination: Regions must coordinate the re-opening of schools, transportation systems, testing and tracing with other surrounding regions.

• Re-imagining Tele-Medicine

• Re-imagining Tele-Education

• Regional Control Rooms: Each region must monitor business and regional indicators during the phased re-opening, including hospital capacity, rate of infection, PPE burn rate.

• Protect and Respect Essential Workers: Regions must continue to ensure protections are in place for essential workers.

SARATOGA COUNTY: Open Letter to The Chairman of the Board of Supervisors

Following was released on April 1, 2020

by the Saratoga County Public Health Northway Corridor Task Force:

April 1, 2020

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE

CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS

Dear Chairman Allen,

On behalf of the undersigned, we would like to commend the county leadership for their reversal of their decision to pay county administration 50% above their normal salary compensation, effective March 30th and retroactive to March 20, completely repealing this disparate treatment of management employees.  This will go a long way toward reaffirming the county's commitment to our residents as a board committed to integrity and fiscal responsibility.  The 230,000 residents of our county deserve as much.

We have previously asked for a "reset" and thereby return to basic county policy that allows rank and file employees to continue to earn additional overtime pay as provided for by negotiated contracts or under provisions of the Federal Labor Standards Act.  We have had conversations with constituents, many of whom are county employees, which have raised our collective concern that the county directives imposed will result in union members across the county receiving less opportunity for compensation than that which has been agreed to during labor negotiations.

All our county employees on the front lines of the COVID-19 fight have, and continue to, work selflessly to carry out their responsibilities during these difficult times, putting the needs of our county residents first.  We unwaveringly support their efforts and commend their tireless work to protect the citizens of our county and it is only proper that the county does the same and respects the provisions of the negotiated contracts that are in place and the promises that were made by administration and county leadership are honored. The publicly expressed reasoning by members of county administration for paying time and a half for every hour worked was that county employees would otherwise not come to work. This is patently untrue and recent discussions conducted with county employees has confirmed that fact. Retroactively taking away back pay promised and negotiated with county employees is a terrible practice that likely will expose the county to a legal challenge and can severely affect morale amongst the employees that serve our residents day-to-day.

We were unsettled to learn that in what can only be characterized as a political April Fool’s Day prank, the previously promised time and a half compensation to the rank and file employees will now be completely withdrawn, back to March 20^th on a retroactive basis so as to not appear in an employee’s next payroll check. Although we did not agree with the decision to compensate non-management employees with a 50% raise under the framework first set forth by the administration and the compensation committee, to go back on a compensation promise made in order to force the facts to fit a new narrative for political gain does a disservice to all county employees, shows bad faith in labor negotiations and does not foster a healthy employer/ employee relationship. Non-management rank and file should be paid their time and half as promised by the administration and compensation committee for this pay period.

While we have not received a response to our multiple requests for a full meeting of the Board of Supervisors to discuss this issue and resolve it, we once again ask for a "reset" by the county's compensation committee and once again call for that meeting of the Board of Supervisors to take place so we may discuss the serious inequities that the county is asking our union membership to accept.

Supervisor Phil Barrett, Town of Clifton Park 
County Supervisor Jonathan Schopf, Town of Clifton Park
Supervisor Kevin Tollisen, Town of Halfmoon 
Supervisor Darren O’Connor, Town of Malta
Supervisor Theodore Kusnierz Jr, Town of Moreau
Supervisor John Lant, Town of Wilton 
County Supervisor Tara Gaston, City of Saratoga Springs
County Supervisor Matthew Veitch, City of Saratoga Springs
Supervisor Eric Connolly, Town of Ballston 
Supervisor Benny Zlotnick, Town of Milton