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Friday, April 3, 2020
Vol. 69, No. 14
CURRAN HOLDS VIRUS SCHOOLS PRESS VIRTUAL TOWN HALL DISTANCE LEARNING PAGE 8
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FOYE TESTS POSITIVE FOR VIRUS PAGE 6
COVID clusters found in North Shore villages Nassau cases have surpassed 8,500 BY R OB E RT PE L A E Z
PHOTO BY ROSE WELDON
Personnel at Jones Beach’s drive-thru coronavirus testing site take a sample from a patient.
Clusters of the spreading coronavirus have inhabited North Shore areas, according to data provided by the Nassau County Department of Health. As of Tuesday night, Nassau County had 8,554 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus, Nassau County Executive Laura Curran said. To keep residents continuously informed, the Department of Health updates a map of Nassau daily with the number of positive cases and the confirmed locations. Of the 8,554 confirmed cases in the county, more than 500 are located on
the North Shore stretching just from Great Neck to Glen Cove and as far south as Mineola, according to the data. When asked what she believes is the reason for these clustered cases throughout the North Shore, Curran said it is difficult to make conclusions and that next week will surely look different than this week. “Other than density, this map proves every community in our county is vulnerable to contracting this virus,” she said. Nassau County’s rate of testing is 35 percent higher than that of New York City, while its hospitalization and Continued on Page 28
Aid to schools, villages threatened BY E M M A J ON ES
coronavirus crisis would force him to cut funding for schools Nassau school districts are in an attempt to close the state’s waiting to make budget deci- budget gap. The state budget sions after Gov. Andrew Cuomo deadline was Wednesday. Cuomo contended that the announced last week that the
$2 trillion stimulus bill approved by the U.S. Senate March 25 disregarded New York’s dire financial situation. He has publicly criticized U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) for not ensuring more funding for New York.
As of Wednesday, $16 billion of the stimulus bill will go toward unemployment compensation for New York residents who lost their jobs as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The aid package, which Schumer dubbed “unemployment on steroids,” adds $600 per week in unemployment payments for a maximum of four months. In a radio interview on
WAMC last Thursday, Cuomo said efforts to combat the coronavirus ravaging the state have left New York “basically bankrupt.” With the Wednesday budget deadline looming, legislators were pushing for a freeze in education funding Monday in light of the governor’s warning, according to Newsday. Continued on Page 29
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