Saratogians looking for more local, live-streamed entertainment just hit the jackpot. Saratoga Living has learned that Caffè Lena is going to “reopen,” still without an audience, but with new, live Stay Home Sessions to be live-streamed from the Saratoga venue’s iconic and intimate stage in Downtown Saratoga. The decision comes after the venue was granted “essential” business status earlierthis week by New York State. In addition to more Stay Home Sessions, Caffè Lena is also already moving ahead with plans for a special live-streamed 60th anniversary celebration, which will take place on Thursday, May 21.
“I applied four times to be designated an essential business for purposes of broadcasting live performances,” says the venue’s Executive Director Sarah Craig. “Not having heard back, I’d given up hope. So, yesterday’s letter of approval came as a big surprise!” Craig says that her first priority is to fulfill some commitments to a handful of local artists she had to un-invite when the full shutdown went into effect back in March. During that month-long “hiatus,” the renowned folk venue kept its audiences entertained by offering online viewing parties of pre-recorded performances from its private archive. Now that staff can return, the venue plans to have its Stay Home Sessions up and broadcasting live by Monday, April 27. Going forward, expect a nightly mix of live and pre-recorded Stay Home Sessions.
As for how Caffè Lena attained essential business status, Craig says that it was a little complicated. “The rules kept changing, and each time they changed I had to reapply,” she says. “Broadcasting is one of the qualifying categories, and it’s also valuable that we’re generating financial support for independent musicians.” Craig notes that many artists have fallen through the cracks of the CARES Act, the $2 trillion COVID-19 aid package passed by Congress last month. So far, the Stay Home Sessions, which started in mid-March, have raised almost $20,000 through donations or “tips” to the venue’s musicians.
For social distancing purposes, the venue will remain off-limits to everyone except essential personnel and musicians. For extra precautions, temperatures will also be taken of staff upon arrival, and the venue’s stage and facilities will be regularly sanitized. “Onsite, our operation is going to be a bit hospital-like,” says Craig. “The big payoff for all that work and scrupulous attention to safety is that we get to provide a stage for out-of-work musicians to do what they do best: fill hearts and bring us together.”
Looking ahead to the 60th anniversary celebration on May 21, the historic folk venue will be working with Rich Schlansker of Electric City Pictures to help produce the highly anticipated event. The special anniversary concert will feature four to five guest performers streaming from their home studios, interspersed with interviews and short segments on the folk venue’s impressive history. “It’ll be free to tune in,” says Craig. “We’ll be seeking donations for our endowment. We need that security if we want to be here as a home for the creative community 60 years from now.”
In his April 22 press conference, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo described his visit yesterday with President Donald Trump at the White House as “productive,” saying that the two politicians put their differences aside to get down to business on how to tackle the COVID-19 crisis, federally, and in New York State. “To me, a productive visit means we spoke truth, we spoke facts, we made decisions and we have a plan going forward,” said Cuomo.
So, what, exactly, does that plan look like? Cuomo spoke of a state and federal partnership, which included three key ingredients: COVID-19 testing, which the state will be taking an aggressive handle of in the coming weeks (more on that in a second); federal funding for the state, which Cuomo said the president understood needed to happen and would work with Congress to pass legislation on; and the president’s waiving of the state’s FEMA relief cost (normally, a state has to foot FEMA 25 percent of the bill for disaster relief in the state; given that New York has the most COVID-19 cases in the country, that would’ve been a “cruel” conclusion, so the president waived it).
In the realm of testing, Cuomo said he’d agreed to double the testing capacity for the state from 20,000 tests to 40,000, which basically amounts to testing seven days a week, 24 hours a day (this doesn’t include the antibody testing underway in the state right now). Possibly the bigger task at hand, though, is the “tracing” once people are tested for COVID-19 and test positive. In other words, if someone tests positive for the virus, someone would need to trace all of the people that person came into contact with and then test and quarantine those people. In order to get the tracing done, Cuomo said the state would be bringing in an “army” to do so, including former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg; Johns Hopkins University; global health organization Vital Strategies; and both SUNY and CUNY, who would be offering up 35,000 medical students as would-be tracers.
From a macro perspective, Cuomo noted that New York is continuing to see a dramatic dip in the total number of hospitalizations, and the number of new COVID-19 cases entering hospitals has flattened. On April 21, a total number of 474 COVID-19-related deaths were reported, as opposed to the previous day, when there were 481. New York State still leads all states in the union with more than 250,000 COVID-19 cases and a little over 20,000 deaths.
One of life’s simplest pleasures? Clicking your seatbelt in, putting your car in gear and just driving, without a care or destination. And in the COVID-19 Era, solitude is key—and a long drive down a roadway-to-nowhere could be just what the doctor ordered to ward off that cabin fever. Every drive needs—no requires—an amazing soundtrack. And while there are truckloads of songs to choose from, Horsepower’s whittled the list down to our 10 favorites.
1. Wilson Pickett, “Mustang Sally”
Although “Mustang Sally” was originally written and recorded in 1965, it was Wilson Pickett who made it famous in ’66. If your car happens to have a video screen in the backseat, we suggest watching the 1991 film The Commitments, which also features a wonderful, spot-on cover of the song.
2. Tom Cochrane/Rascal Flatts, “Life Is A Highway”
If you’re of a certain age, you’ll remember when Canadian rocker Tom Cochrane’s original cracked the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. Your kids will probably be more familiar with the Rascal Flatts version from the soundtrack to the movie Cars, which was also a Top 10 hit.
3. Bruce Springsteen, “Born To Run”
New Jersey rock legend Bruce Springsteen—a.k.a. The Boss—might as well be made out of auto parts. He’s written some of the greatest car songs ever, and “Born To Run” is arguably his best. We’ll strap our hands ’cross this one’s engines any day.
4. The Beach Boys, “Little Deuce Coupe”
Songwriters Brian Wilson and Roger Christian must’ve been thumbing through an auction catalog when they wrote “Little Deuce Coupe,” the world’s grandest ode to the 1932 Ford Coupe. At just under 2 minutes long, the tune’ll go by as fast as the car itself drives, were you to be drag racing in one yourself.
5. Tom Petty, “Runnin’ Down A Dream”
Technically a solo album, the late Tom Petty’s Full Moon Fever might as well be its own road trip playlist. But the true car-fanatic nugget in the set is “Runnin’ Down A Dream,” a tune that makes you want to step on the gas pedal and never let it up.
6. The Grateful Dead, “Truckin’”
What a long strange trip it’s been, for sure. While the Dead were likely talking about a lysergic highway, not a physical one in this ditty, “Truckin’” still ranks among the top tracks to blare while you’re coasting—not speeding—down the golden road.
7. Sammy Hagar, “I Can’t Drive 55”
Speaking of speeding, Sammy Hagar’s 1984 single “I Can’t Drive 55” was supposedly written soon after the rocker got a ticket on The Northway (i.e. Interstate 87) back in the day. Take Exit 13N off of I-87 and get a ticket to the Saratoga Automobile Museum.
8. Don McLean, “American Pie”
As you know, The Saratoga Automobile Museum’s located in beautiful Saratoga Springs, NY—the site of historic folk venue Caffè Lena, where a young Don McLean cut his teeth in the ’60s. For years, there was a rumor that McLean actually wrote “American Pie” in a Saratoga bar, but, alas, the folkie’s since dispelled it. Either way, at 8 minutes and 37 seconds long, the tune is perfect for long stretches of highway.
9. Steppenwolf, “Born To Be Wild”
Steppenwolf’s “Born To Be Wild,” which was featured prominently in the (motorcycle) road trip movie to end all road trip movies, Easy Rider, soared all the way to No.2 on the Billboard Hot 100. Whether you’re on a steel steed or in a drop-top, this one’ll get your heart rate up.
10. The Beatles, “Drive My Car”
Beep-beep, beep-beep, yass queen. Ask your buddy that likes The Rolling Stones better than The Beatles to identify their best car song. (They don’t have one.) The Lennon-McCartney machine dropped this stunner on the 1965 UK version of Rubber Soul—and it’s a must for your playlist.
This story originally appeared in the Spring 2020 edition of Horsepower magazine, a publication produced by Saratoga Living Arts in partnership with the Saratoga Automobile Museum.
With his legendary background as a championship racecar driver and as the owner of Dyson Racing of Poughkeepsie, NY, Rob Dyson is a man on the move. Having already competed successfully with his team in famed North American racing series such as the IMSA GT Championship and American Le Mans Series, Dyson, at age 73, is still today one of the busiest guys you’ll come across, and a very hard man to pin down.
When Horsepower finally caught up with him in mid-March, as the COVID-19 crisis gripped the nation and the world, we discovered why he’d been so elusive—and it had nothing to do with the car racing. For several days, Dyson had been busy helping to establish COVID-19 testing sites throughout his home base of Dutchess County. When local politicians, community leaders and health care professionals urgently needed to put a plan in motion to deal with the pandemic—and quickly—they knew just who to call. Unsurprisingly, Dyson got the job done, arranging for four makeshift, portable clinics and securing the locations for them to be housed. “Look, it’s about serving your community,” he says. “The thing about this country is, everybody’s got to help everybody else. You know the old saying ‘If you have your health, you have everything’? Well, that is the truth.”
With that admirable drive and outlook on life, it’s no wonder Dyson has reached the level of success and popularity that he’s enjoyed throughout his career. Dyson has been a fixture of the racing world since 1974, when he raced his Datsun 510 sedan at Watkins Glen before moving up to the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) nationals in 1977, winning a national championship in 1981 in a Nissan 200SX. He and his team would go on to compete in numerous races—among them, the Watkins Glen International, 24 Hours of Daytona, Pirelli World Challenge, World Sportscar Championship and 12 Hours of Sebring. Over the years, Dyson and his team have competed from behind the wheel of every make and model of car, from Ford to Ferrari, and have enjoyed relationships with a number of automakers, including Mazda and Lola. But it is their longstanding partnership with Porsche for which they’re best known, a relationship that dates back to 1985, when Dyson and co-driver Drake Olson began a four-year winning streak at the Porsche Cup of North America. And Dyson Racing is a family affair—Dyson’s son, Chris Dyson, raced for the team from 2001-2013 and is now vice president of the company.
Closer to home, Dyson has an established relationship with the Saratoga Automobile Museum, to which he has loaned 15 cars from his collection for a major exhibition that kicks off this June. The cars that will be on display include those Dyson himself has raced, plus models he has owned for years and some he’s only recently acquired.
Not that these are the first cars Dyson has had on display in Saratoga. In 2017, a Lola B09/86 prototype, which Dyson Racing campaigned to a pair of championships in the American Le Mans Series, got a new home in the Saratoga Automobile Museum’s Racing in New York State exhibit, a major feature of the museum that displays a number of racecars and artifacts from the history of motorsport in the state. Back when Dyson loaned the Lola to the museum, Ron Hedger, a member of the museum’s board of trustees and the person who oversees the Racing in New York State exhibit and related programming, called it “a remarkable example of high-tech racing,” adding that the Dyson family has deep roots in Upstate New York, having made their home in the Hudson Valley for more than four decades.
Anticipating this summer’s exhibition, Carly Connors, the museum’s executive director, noted that the Dyson family are longtime supporters, calling the Lola that’s on permanent display “a testament to Dyson Racing’s dedication to the museum and the education of our youth about the importance the automobile has played in New York history. We are honored to host the Dyson collection for this exhibition and can’t wait to showcase it to the public.”
Dyson’s generosity to the Saratoga Automobile Museum, which opened in 2002, hinges on his admiration and support of the museum and its mission of preservation and education. In addition to loaning his cars to the museum, he is an active participant in its exhibits and other functions, having visited and given a number of talks there throughout the years. “It is a fantastic, historic building,” he says of the lovingly restored Saratoga Bottling Plant (for full story, see page 60) that now houses the museum. “To be able to house cars of all types and all sizes there is really terrific. If you’re a car guy, it is the place to be. Ron Hedger and the staff over there make it great, and people respect it—it’s getting better and better every year.”
When he was asked to participate in the June exhibition, Dyson didn’t hesitate for a minute. “Clearly, I’m a car guy,” he says. “I love my racing and I love my old racecars, so when they asked me if I wanted to show some of them I said, why not? They’re really neat and have brought me so much joy. There are so many stories behind them, and I wanted to share them with people who visit the museum—and I hope they’ll think they’re neat, too.”
This June, the auto museum will be open Tuesday-Sunday, 10am-5pm, and will eventually be open seven days a week during the summer months. Adds Dyson of his upcoming 15-sportscar exhibition: “I am honored and pleased to have my cars at the Saratoga Automobile Museum. People are really going to enjoy it, and I hope that it adds to the reputation of what is a great museum.”
This story originally appeared in the Spring 2020 edition of Horsepower magazine, a publication produced by Saratoga Living Arts in partnership with the Saratoga Automobile Museum.
Access to COVID-19 testing is about to get a little easier in the Capital Region. On April 19, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced a statewide antibody testing initiative—testing to determine how many New Yorkers have already contracted the potentially deadly virus—and now, on April 22, national pharmacy chain Rite Aid will open a new COVID-19 drive-through testing site at its Colonie location. As part of Rite Aid’s national COVID-19 testing plan, this Colonie popup clinic will be free for those that qualify and marks Rite Aid’s third such testing site in New York State.
“It’s not about the brand or PR for Rite Aid; it’s about helping people and protecting communities,” says Christopher Savarese, Rite Aid’s director of public relations. “That’s our main goal: to keep communities safe and healthy.” For the rollout of these quick, drive-through testing clinics, Rite Aid partnered with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which also worked with local governments to determine the best locations to place the testing sites. The first Rite Aid drive-through testing site opened on March 22 in Philadelphia; just one month later on and there will be 25 across the nation from California to New York with more on the way. (It should be noted that all testing sites are set up in Rite Aid parking lots with tents; testing does not occur under the regular drive-through.)
Those who wish to get tested should go to Rite Aid’s website to take a symptoms questionnaire based on Centers for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines to determine eligibility. If eligible, a popup window will allow potential candidates to make an appointment at a location of their choice. Then, simply go to the location and get tested. “There’s a Rite Aid pharmacist there to guide people through the entire test,” says Savarese about the process, which only takes a few minutes. “It’s not like you’re driving into our parking lot, and someone just hands you something and says, ‘There you go.'”
The test is totally self-administered—a swab in both nostrils—and visitors to the clinic never even leave their cars (in fact, it’s required, per social distancing guidelines, that people remain in their vehicles). The swab is handed back to a Rite Aid pharmacist who then sends it to a laboratory for testing. Those tested should hear back about their results by phone or email within two to seven days.
Savarese says that that response time could fluctuate, too, depending on how many people are getting tested. “The situation with COVID is just so fluid,” he says. “But I always try to look for a positive in something, and one positive that I’ve seen here is how [well] companies and the media have worked together to get the word out about testing like this. It’s really important.”
On April 16, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo once again extended the work-from-home order until May 15. And in talking about what the “new normal” might look like once we all get back to some semblance of a work week, Cuomo spoke of a “reimagined workplace,” one in which telecommuting wouldn’t be some once-a-week added bonus you might negotiate for during a future job interview.
Working from home is by no means a new concept; freelance writers have been doing it for decades and some, quite lucratively. As it were, our staff was even able to publish four separate magazines—The Hyde Collection’s latest “digest,” the Saratoga Automobile Museum’s 10th-anniversary Horsepower, Capital Region Living and Saratoga Living entirely remotely. While it would’ve been nice to catch the few typos that we found after the fact—the type of thing us editors find on printed paper versus a computer screen—it certainly wasn’t an impossible feat, and we made do.
But this partially answers our job-hunting riddle from last week’s column: Has the governor’s proposed “new normal” opened up the job market entirely to remote workers? In other words, if you were to apply to any job right now that you were qualified for, anywhere—even if the job posting said you needed to be “located in X metropolitan area”—would it be possible to land an interview and potentially nab that job? It’s a good question, and one that everybody should ponder.
Local Job Opportunities
Cool Job Opportunity (Local)
It stinks not being able to go out to your favorite restaurant or bar and sit down and enjoy the food there. And while all of them in the Capital Region are closed, with some offering takeout or to-go meals, we can still support them as best we can. But what if you could actually work a cool, remote job for one of the top spots on your list? That’s what one lucky person will be able to do for Troy‘s Plumb Oyster Bar. As we reported in a recent issue of Capital Region Living, Plumb welcomes in “Troy’s three-dollar-sign crowd [who enjoy its] raw bar and specialty cocktail menu.” (Their juicy-as-hell burger is one of the better ones in town.) The restaurant’s owner, Heidi Knoblauch, is looking for a Content Creator, who can work ~30 hour/week position on a W2, not a 1099, for a late April/early May start date. (Read the full job description here.) Email Heidi for more information: [email protected].
The FBI’s Albany field office is hiring special agents in all areas of expertise. (FBI)
Cool Job Opportunity (Local)
If you’re of a certain age—and of the nerdier persuasion—you probably remember the Fox show, The X-Files, which aired every Friday night and featured spooky adventures led by Special Agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Did you know that Scully’s weekly appearance onscreen led to what was later known as “The Scully Effect,” or an uptick in young women seeking out STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) careers? You, too, could be an agent at the FBI—at the FBI’s Albany field office. (We’re not sure if any of the future investigations you do will feature a liver-eating man-monster, but you’ll be helping to keep America safe, for sure.) There is an age requirement, though: You need to be at least 23 years old and have not reached your 37th birthday yet. Search for the job on Glassdoor or head over to the FBI’s Albany office page.
Cool Job Opportunity (Local)
Do you think you have a RADIO VOICE? It just so happens that national radio conglomerate, iHeartMedia, which owns and operates local radio stations such as the venerable PYX 106.5 and 99.5 The River, is looking for both a full- and part-time news reporter to work out of its Latham office. It looks like the gig will be reporting on traffic and weather—a beat which inspired one of the greatest Fountains of Wayne songs ever (#RIP Adam Schlesinger). Search for the part-time gig on LinkedIn Jobs; the company’s careers page has the two positions open here.
Cool Job Opportunity (Local)
Are you an LGBTQ advocate with a strong sense of duty for the Capital Region LGBTQ community? (Example: Tas Steiner.) Do you have a bachelor’s degree in social work or mental health counseling (preferably, a LMSW or LCSW)? Local nonprofit In Our Voices Inc. is hiring for a number of positions, including an LGBT Victim Advocate. The position “will provide services and activities that assist victims of domestic and/or sexual violence in understanding the dynamics of victimization and in stabilizing their lives after a victimization.” It’s a full-time position, which will currently be done remotely, and actually quotes its salary range: $36,500 – $42,700 per year. Whether or not you’re pulling in a salary, this position pays it forward big time. Think of it as a karmic downpayment. Learn more about this role and a number of others at the nonprofit here.
National/Remote Work Opportunities
Cool Job Opportunity (National/Remote)
So, you drink a lot of craft beer. Tallboys, pints—whatever you can get your paws on. The next time your significant other complains about how much you’re downing, just tell him or her that you’re “just doing research for a job interview.” The Terre Haute Brewing Company, located in Indianapolis, IN, is looking for a Social Media Specialist with just one year of experience with social media and social media marketing required. The job listing says you’ll need to spend time in the brewery itself, but we both know that that ain’t happening anytime soon. So, let’s just say you can send along an application. But make sure you know your Indiana beer before you send it off. Search for the job on Indeed, or go check out their website here.
DuckDuckGo’s headquarters in Wales. (DuckDuckGo)
Cool Job Opportunity (International/Remote)
Right. So you can’t travel right now. Can’t get on a plane or a train or an automobile and go any-stinking-where. But you can work abroad. Yes, as long as you’re willing to work English hours—or any other country’s, for that matter—you’re golden. DuckDuckGo, a digital app company that helps protect/secure your browser from ad trackers and other privacy-busting products, is looking for a Senior Copywriter to work remotely for its Bodelwyddan, Wales–based team. It’s looking for someone to “help shape the DuckDuckGo user experience across all of our products.” It’s a full-time, but the company won’t hold a gun to your head about the types of hours you keep. You’re just required to work at minimum, 40 hours a week. And when the COVID-19 pandemic eases up and international travel is an option again, expect two work trips a year, once for our an all-hands-on-deck meeting in the UK and another for the company retreat, each of which is about 4-5 days apiece. Find the job description on LinkedIn Jobs or browse DuckDuckGo’s other positions here.
Cool Job Opportunity (International/Remote)
Are you the type that would rather hit the (backyard) halfpipe after work than get cozy with a Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. novel? Oh, you say you’re into both? Well, this might just be the job for you. A new Berlin, Germany–based online skateboarding publication, Dose Skateboarding, is looking for a part-time writer/editor to cover OG and up-and-coming skateboarders, streetwear brands, photographers, artists and more. Interested in ollie-ing ahead with the application? Send them three writing samples, a cover letter and your résumé (or, as most people abroad refer to it, your CV or Curriculum Vitae). Find the job on Indeed or hit up the staff here.
Local/National Job, Business And Volunteering Resources
Cool Job Resource (Local/National)
A reliable source recently directed us to this San Francisco Chroniclestory about how tech businesses on the West Coast are still hiring, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s because the majority of Silicon Valley’s workforce was already working remotely in the first place. The Capital Region has its own “Tech Valley,” which waterfalls down the hill from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) to Downtown Troy, as well as outposts in nearly every other part of the greater region. Where does one find the meatiest tech jobs? Try Dice.com. Get rollin’! (See what we did there?)
Cool Resources For Kids
Starfall
Our latest survey of local moms and what their children are enjoying in the realm of homeschooling has led us to Starfall, which caters to a pre-K/kindergarten and Grades 1-3 crowd of tots. For the younger set, kids can watch educational videos that “act out” songs (“Motion Songs”) and learn how to say words through an Art Gallery that includes paintings by masters such as Seurat, Chagall and van Gogh. (The next time your kid hands you a Mr. Potato Head ear, hopefully that’s not because of his newfound proclivity for Vincent.) For the older kids, the studies are leveled up—i.e. instead of learning how to sing and act out “Little Miss Muffet,” they’re learning actual American folk tunes such as “Oh California.” Soon enough, they’ll be singing “Hotel California,” and you won’t be able to stop them. Check out Starfall here.
Cool Diversions
Join These Facebook Groups
We have a pair of Facebook Groups to hawk to you this week—two that will probably make your day, over and over and over again for the foreseeable future. (Now, obviously, you have to join the group and hope that the page admin lets you in, but we’re going to take a wild guess that, during these tough times, your ticket will be punched.)
(1) Looking Good, Albany! – The Capital City doesn’t get enough love, and this Facebook Group is all about worshipping Albany’s pretty side. The concept is super simple: just snap a super cool shot of the city and post it with a little update. Perfect for a lunchtime scroll.
(2) I love Saratoga – Yes, the “love” is lowercased in the Group name, but you wouldn’t know it from the amount of LOVE that people show for Saratoga in it. One of our favorite features is all of the vintage photos of the city group members post on a daily basis. You might even find some recent photos/stories from, say, Saratoga Living, too.
Listen to This Song So, you’re working hard on the landing that next gig. R.E.M.’s got you covered with its “Finest Worksong.” Yes, job hunters, this is your finest hour.
Ever dreamt of having your artwork displayed in a renowned art museum? Now’s your chance, thanks to The Hyde Collection‘s first-ever Hyde Creative Challenge.
The challenge, which is going on now through May 3, invites creatives to submit original works of art inspired by abstract expressionist painter Grace Hartigan’s painting, “White,” which is currently on view in The Hyde’s Feibes and Schmitt Collection (though the museum is currently closed due to COVID-19, this collection also lives online). Participants are welcome to use any medium to complete the challenge, including visual arts, literature, music and dance, and those selected will appear on The Hyde Collection’s social media pages. What’s more, select works may be chosen for display on The Hyde Collection’s walls once the museum reopens.
To participate, simply join and post your artwork in The Hyde Collection Facebook group, or tag The Hyde in a post made to your own Instagram or Facebook page (@hydecollection on Instagram and @TheHydeCollection on Facebook) with the hashtag #HydeCreativeChallenge. All submissions must be posted by May 3 in order to be considered for the challenge.
Before you get started, be sure to view Grace Hartigan’s “White” on The Hyde Collection’s website for inspiration. While you’re there, you can also virtually browse the museum’s extensive collection of works. Additionally, check out a video by Hyde Collection Curator of Education Jenny Hutchinson that introduces the Hyde Creative Challenge and Grace Hartigan’s work.
The federal government is in the process of helping out businesses of all shapes and sizes right now, who have taken a hit during the COVID-19 crisis. But what about all the frontline workers? That was New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s message during his April 20 press briefing, during which he proposed the idea of “hazard pay” for frontline workers such as teachers, police officers, firefighters, transit workers, healthcare workers and nursing home staffers.
Cuomo made his appeal directly to the federal government for state funding, which he said it could then use to pay those workers. “Don’t forget [the frontline workers], because those are the people that I fund with the state budget,” he said. “You shouldn’t make us choose between small businesses and large businesses and people who are on the frontline doing the work day in and day out.” As he noted in a graphic, 41 percent of frontline workers are people of color. That, and minorities are disproportionately victims of COVID-19. “The economy closed down for the people who, frankly, have the luxury of staying at home,” said Cuomo. “All those essential workers, who had to get up every morning to put food on the shelves and go to the hospitals to provide healthcare under extraordinary circumstances and the police officer who had to go out and keep you safe and the firefighter who still had to go out and fight the fire—those people worked, and they went out there and exposed themselves to the virus.” Cuomo said that the “hazard pay” should amount to a 50 percent bonus.
All of the COVID-19-related data once again pointed to the continued flattening of the curve, with hospitalizations and intubations down and new COVID-19 cases flat, day over day. The total number of deaths was also at its lowest at 478 on April 19. Putting that into perspective, the previous day’s total was 507, while just five days ago, that number was at 752. But Cuomo warned that once the weather begins to get warmer, there’ll be a marked risk of the infection rate going up again, simply because more people will be outside and potentially putting themselves in the virus’ path. (New York still leads the rest of the nation in its number of COVID-19 cases with more than 250,000; the virus has killed just under 19,000.)
Of course, the state should have a much better idea of the spread of the virus in the coming weeks, as Cuomo yesterday announced a run of statewide antibody testing.
A Capital Region company has become the first in the nation (and world!) to win approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for a crucial medical device in the fight against the COVID-19 virus. Cohoes-based Precision Valve and Automation (PVA) announced today (April 20) that the FDA had approved the production and use of PREVENT, an emergency ventilator both designed and manufactured at PVA’s Cohoes headquarters. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and ventilator shortages across the country, especially here in New York State, the FDA issued PREVENT approval under a “fast track” process known as Emergency Use Authorization. Primarily a robotics and tech dispenser developer, PVA is also the first nonmedical device manufacturer in the world to receive FDA approval to make these ventilators under the Emergency Use Authorization.
“In one short month we’ve taken a concept through to FDA approval,” says PVA’s Founder and President Tony Hynes. “To be the only company in New York State to receive authorization and the only alternative company in the world to be recognized by the FDA for ventilator production is something our team can be proud of at PVA. Someone, somewhere may now have a chance to survive COVID-19 because of what we’re doing here in Albany.”
The PREVENT emergency ventilator will be used for adult patients weighing more than 66 pounds and will feature an active alarm system providing immediate feedback to medical workers. Utilizing its 135,000-square-foot facility in Cohoes, PVA plans to start shipping the ventilators by the end of the month, potentially up to 250 of them a day.
PVA has some powerful resources at its disposal. Founded in 1992, the company got its start selling automated and manual dispensing valves (products used in a lot of hardware and circuit board construction), as well as building robots related to dispensing valves out of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Incubator Center in Troy. Since then, PVA has grown into an international company—with regional sites in North America, Asia and Europe—building robotics and tech for diverse industries from aerospace and military defense to electronics and renewable energy.
“Governor Cuomo and President Trump have repeatedly called on corporate America to fill the void in manufacturing medical devices,” says Hynes. “Well, here we are.”
With New York Governor Andrew Cuomo giving his press briefing from a different location on Sunday, April 19, at Northwell Health in Manhattan—the gathered press now all wearing face masks—he announced that New York State would begin conducting sweeping antibody testing on thousands of New Yorkers over the coming week.
Antibody tests, as opposed to the chemical-reagent-heavy COVID-19 kits that the governor spoke of over the past few day, test to see whether a person has already had COVID-19 (in other words, if they have the antibody present in their system, it will notify experts that they had the virus). “We’re going to do [antibody testing] in the most aggressive way in the nation, where we’re going to sample thousands of people across the state to find out if they have the antibodies,” said Cuomo. It’s unclear who will be tested and when—Cuomo did say it would be “random”—but he did say that the New York State Department of Health would be running the testing program and that 2,000 tests would be done per day. “That will tell us, for the first time, what percent of the population actually has had the coronavirus and is now, at least short term, immune to the virus.”
Overall, the governor’s message today seemed more positive than usual. Total hospitalizations and intubations were down again, and the total number of COVID-19-related deaths dipped to 507 on April 18, down from 540 on April 17. Even the total number of new COVID-19 patients at hospitals was down substantially, from about 2,000 the previous day to 1,300. (New York State is still leading the entire nation with more than 240,000 COVID-19 cases, and more than 18,000 total deaths.) Cuomo mostly talked in the past tense about New York’s COVID-19 crisis, even noting that the state was ready to send 400 ventilators to neighbor Massachusetts, if and when it needed them.
Additionally, Cuomo’s message was that, in order for the state to reach its second phase following the immediate crisis—the one in which the state would eventually reopen the economy—the state would need to follow a three-step process: first, to “do no harm” (i.e. that once the infection rate is down, to keep it down); second, “be smarter” (not to “get cocky” and open businesses and large public gatherings too soon); and third, “learn lessons” (to take what the state has learned from the past and use it to make the future reopening safer and more prepared than it was before).
