The Peru Gazette

COVID anxiety is real. COVID stress is real. COVID depression is real. I understand we’re tired of wearing masks, of social distancing, etc. The pandemic has caused tremendous stress on each of us. And the longer it goes on, the worse it’s going to get. We see it in the numbers, in a rise in substance abuse, in the way people are relying on mental health services and in real need of resources. We can’t ignore the emotional and mental health impacts of this pandemic.

Give your friends a call. Check-in with your family. Ask them how everything is going and how they are feeling. Let’s show each other some love because mental health is just as important as physical health. New Yorkers can also call the State’s mental health hotline at 1-844-863-9314 for free emotional support, consultations & referrals to a provider. We are New York Tough as we go through this together but let’s not also forget to be New York Loving.

Photo of the Day: The iconic lion statues in front of the main branch of the New York Public Library are wearing masks and encouraging New Yorkers to vote (Photo by Nina Dudko)

1. The positivity rate in the “micro-cluster” focus areas was 3.20 percent. The statewide positivity rate excluding these areas was 0.96 percent. There were 986 total hospitalizations. Of the 135,341 tests reported yesterday, 1,628, or 1.2 percent, were positive. Sadly, we lost 15 New Yorkers to the virus yesterday.

2. The Department of Health is partnering with Cortland County and SUNY to open new rapid testing sites. Starting tomorrow, October 23rd, free community testing will be open to the public at designated testing sites. Testing will be available from noon to 4:30 pm on Friday and 9:00 am to 5:00 pm on Saturday and Sunday. You must have an appointment. A list of testing locations is available here along with the link to make an appointment for a free test.

3. The Nourish NY program has spent over $18 million connecting New York farms with families in need. To date, 20.8 million pounds of raw milk have been made into products like yogurt and cheese that have been distributed by food banks, along with 6.4 million pounds of produce from NY farms. Almost 800,000 households have received products from more than 4,000 farms through this initiative — which is helping keep farms and families in need afloat.

4. On Purple Thursday, we stand against domestic violence. Landmarks across the state will be lit purple tonight to spread awareness of domestic violence. Amid COVID, reports of DV have increased. Remember: You are not trapped because of COVID and you are not alone. If you need help, you can call the State’s Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-942-6906, or text 833-997-2121. New York will always fight for domestic violence survivors.

5. The test positivity rate is below 2 percent in every region of the state. In New York City, the positivity rate was 1.1 percent. In Long Island, it was 1.0 percent. In the Capital Region, 0.9 percent. In Central New York, 1.0 percent. In the Finger Lakes, 1.4 percent. In the Mid-Hudson Region, 1.5 percent. In Mohawk Valley, 0.6 percent. In the North Country, 0.5 percent. In the Southern Tier, 1.5 percent. And finally, in Western New York, 1.5 percent. Remember that you can look at updated regional COVID data anytime online.

Tonight’s “Deep Breath Moment”: A painting by a famous Black artist that was missing for 60 years was discovered thanks to a visitor at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Met is hosting an exhibition of an important series of paintings about Revolutionary War times by Jacob Lawrence, an acclaimed American painter. But the series was missing one of the panels. What happened next was a stroke of fate: A patron realized she had seen a very similar work on the wall of her neighbor’s apartment on the Upper West Side, just across Central Park from the Met. It was the missing panel. The owners, who did not realize their painting was “missing” to art historians, were happy to lend the piece to the Met, where it is now displayed with the rest of the series. According to Eric Widing, Deputy Chairman of Christie’s New York, the painting is worth “in the seven figures.” The elderly owners had bought it at an auction for a modest sum in around 1960.

Ever Upward,

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo