Governor Cuomo Announces Lowest Reported COVID-19 Infection Rate, New Testing Initiatives
Today (August 17th), Governor Cuomo held a press conference during which he announced that of the 56,891 COVID-19 tests conducted yesterday, 408 were positive (0.71 percent). This is the lowest infection rate in New York State since the declared start of the pandemic. As of now, New York State has had an infection rate of 1 percent or lower since June. There were 534 total hospitalizations related to COVID-19 and 6 COVID-19 deaths reported yesterday. The Governor also announced that gyms would be permitted to open on August 24th under strict guidelines, including reduced capacity.
On August 14th, Governor Cuomo announced several new COVID-19 testing initiatives, including the launch of a pilot program to detect the presence of COVID-19 in wastewater in Onondaga County, Albany, Newburgh, and Buffalo. The State will also be dispatching mobile testing teams to farms in rural counties and will assist with access to isolation housing after several new clusters were linked to farms and their seasonal workers. The Governor announced that the State University of New York (SUNY) has been approved to undertake pooled surveillance testing for COVID-19. This pooled testing approach will run numerous saliva samples as part of one test, which will allow SUNY Upstate to conduct at least 12,000 additional daily tests. The Governor’s press release is available here.
Governor Cuomo Issues Executive Order 202.56
On August 13th, Governor Cuomo signed Executive Order 202.56 (available here), which extends most provisions contained in a number of previous Executive Orders through September 11th. These include:
- Executive Order 202.31 (here). This order includes the extension of provisions in previously issued Executive Orders 202.3 to 202.14, which closed or restricted public and private businesses and cancelled all non-essential gatherings (“NY on PAUSE”), unless those provisions have been otherwise waived by subsequent directives related to the State’s phased reopening plan.
- Executive Orders 202.41 (here) and 202.42 (here) These orders modified NY on PAUSE restrictions to be looser.
- Executive Order 202.43 (here). This order allows any certified residential program for victims of domestic violence that provided services to a victim of a crime related to domestic violence to be considered a “criminal justice agency.” It also contains provisions related to property taxes, school taxes, and the enforcement of social distancing outside restaurants and bars.
- Executive Order 202.52 (here). This order requires businesses with liquor licenses to serve alcoholic beverages only if accompanied by the purchase of a food item.
DOH Issues Emergency Rule on Nursing Home PPE Requirements
On August 12th, DOH posted an emergency rule in the State Register (available here, p. 2) requiring all nursing homes to maintain a 60-day supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) to ensure that sufficient PPE is available in the event of a continuation or resurgence of the COVID-19 outbreak. Nursing homes will be required to have a 30-day supply of PPE by August 31st, and a 60-day supply of PPE by September 30th, based on a rate of usage equal to the average daily rate of PPE usage at the peak of the pandemic between April 19, 2020 and April 27, 2020. A nursing home may request an extension of the 60-day supply deadline to October 30th if:
- The facility’s inability to meet this deadline is solely attributable to supply chain issues that are beyond the facility’s control and purchasing PPE at market rates would facilitate price gouging by PPE vendors; or
- The seven-day rolling average of new COVID-19 infections in New York State remains below 1.5 percent of the total seven-day rolling average of COVID-19 tests performed over the same period, and there are ten or less states in the U.S. that have a seven-day rolling average of new COVID-19 infections exceeding 5,000 cases.
Failure to possess and maintain the required PPE supply may result in the revocation or suspension of the facility’s license. However, DOH will provide the facility with a 14-day grace period after their first violation to achieve compliance.
New York State DOB Releases Updated Financial Plan
The New York State Division of the Budget (DOB) has released the First Quarterly Update (available here) to the Enacted Budget Financial Plan for Fiscal Year (FY) 2021. The updated Financial Plan projects a $14.5 billion revenue decline for FY 2021, compared to the $13.3 billion decline estimated in April, and expects tax receipts to remain lower through FY 2024 for a total four-year difference of $62 billion. As of the end of July, DOB has withheld approximately $1.9 billion in payments by withholding 20 percent of most local aid payments in June and implementing hiring freezes and other state spending controls. While the State expects that all direct COVID-19 costs incurred by state agencies will be fully covered by federal support, a portion of the local aid payment withholds may become permanent reductions depending on the size and timing of new federal aid for state and local governments (if any).
The Plan also addresses the COVID-19 1115 Waiver request that was submitted to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on May 11th, which would provide the State with $1.9 billion and new flexibilities to respond to the COVID-19 public health emergency. The State has not yet received a response from CMS on the COVID-19 1115 Waiver request.
HHS Provider Relief Fund Updates
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has released several new updates related to the CARES Act Provider Relief Fund:
- HHS has delayed the planned release of details on required reporting requirements for providers who receive more than $10,000 in Provider Relief Funds, which was originally scheduled for today. HHS intends to release it “well in advance of the reporting system being made available,” currently planned for October 1st.
- On August 14th, HHS announced a new distribution of $1.4 billion to a group of 104 children’s hospitals nationwide. Qualifying children’s hospitals are either exempt under the Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) or HRSA-defined Children’s Hospital Graduate Medical Education facilities. Each hospital will receive 2.5 percent of their net revenue from patient care.