FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM NOVEMBER 12, 2020 • THE QUEENS COURIER 19
Cuomo hails news of Pfi zer COVID-19 vaccine
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
rpozarycki@qns.com
@QNS
Like many Americans, Governor
Andrew Cuomo sees great promise in
Monday morning’s reports thatPfi zer had
developed a COVID-19 vaccine that’s
proven more than 90 percent eff ectivein
clinical trials, and could be ready for
mass distribution within weeks.
Th e only downside, Cuomo said in
an interview on ABC’s “Good Morning
America,” is that the outgoing Trump
administration will be responsible for
vaccine distribution — at least at the
start.
“It’s good news, bad news, George,”
Cuomo said in his interview with George
Stephanopoulos. “Th e good news is that
the Pfi zer tests look good and we’ll have
a vaccine shortly. Th e bad news is that it’s
about two months before Joe Biden takes
over, and that means this administration
State DOE cancels January Regents exam due to COVID-19
BY ALEJANDRA O’CONNELLDOMENECH
adomenech@qns.com
@QNS
Th e January Regents exam has been canceled
aft er New York State Department of
Education offi cials determined the exam
could not be “safely, equitably or fairly”
administered amid the ongoing COVID-
19 pandemic, Interim Commissioner of
Education Betty A. Rosa announced on
Th ursday, Nov. 5.
“Whether they are engaged in inschool,
hybrid or remote learning, we are
committed to ensuring each of New York’s
students has access to the rigorous coursework
necessary to prepare them for success
this year and beyond. Th e cancellation
of the January Regents Examinations
will not impact that priority,” said Board
of Regents Vice Chancellor T. Andrew
Brown.
New York City high schoolers scheduled
to take any Regents exams in January
of 2021 will be exempt from any requirements
of passing Regents exams in order
to receive their diplomas, just like in June
and August when exams were also canceled
due to the pandemic. Th e Board
of Regents has yet to make a decision
on whether to cancel exams in June or
August of next year.
“Th roughout the pandemic our priority
has been the health and wellbeing of
our students and educators,” said Interim
Commissioner Rosa in a statement. “We
will continue to monitor applicable data
and make a decision on other state assessment
programs as the school year progresses,
being mindful of the evolving situation.”
Th e Board of Regents provided a list of
requirements students need to meet in
order to be exempt from Regents examrelated
graduation requirements. High
schoolers may be exempt from taking any
Regents exams if they are enrolled in a
course of study that would normally end
in taking a January 2021 Regents exam
and would earn credit for that course by
the end of this fall semester. Students who
complete a make-up program for the purposes
of earning course credit during this
fall semester are also exempt from sitting
for a January 2021 Regents exam as
well as those preparing to take a required
Regents exam to graduate by end of this
fall term.
“In the interest of safety, equity and fairness,
canceling the January Regents exams
is the right choice,” said New York State
United Teachers President Andy Pallotta.
“We applaud Interim Commissioner
Rosa, the Board of Regents and the State
Education Department for putting students
fi rst with changes to state exam
requirements that still allow them to
achieve a diploma without being penalized
during the pandemic.”
Regents exams that students have been
given an exemption for due to COVID-
19 will not be included in any calculations
used for determining Honors or
Mastery level distinctions on diplomas. If
a student scores an average of 90 or above
on all Regents exams applicable to their
diploma type they will be able to receive
honors on that diploma.
is going to be implementing a vaccine
plan.”
Over the last several weeks, the governor
has been outspoken in his criticism
of the Trump regime’s plan for administering
hundreds of millions of doses to
Americans. Th e plan is primarily reliant
upon hospitals and chain pharmacies
such as CVS, Rite Aid or Walgreens serving
as key distribution points.
But not all communities — particularly
low-income areas hardest hit
by the pandemic — have high-quality
medical facilities or chain pharmacies,
Cuomo warned.
“Th ey’re going to take this vaccine and
they’re going to go through the private
mechanism: through hospitals, through
drug market chains, et cetera,” the governor
said Monday. “Th at’s going to be slow
and that’s going to bypass the communities
that we call health care deserts. If
you don’t have a Rite Aid or a CVS, then
you’re in trouble.”
Cuomo, who chairs the National
Governors Association, said he is speaking
with his peers across the 50 states to
fi gure out how the Trump regime’s plan
could be shaped “to fi x it or stop it before
it does damage.” He expressed greater
confi dence in the ability of Presidentelect
Biden to handle the pandemic —
though the 46th president won’t take
offi ce until Jan. 20, 2021.
“I think his fi rst step sayinglet’s focus on
the science, let’s depoliticize testing data,”
Cuomo said. “Listen to the science is the
exact opposite of Trump, but you have
two months and we can’tlet this vaccination
plan go forward the way the Trump
administration is designing it. Bidencan’t
undo it two months later. We’llbe in the
midst of it.”
COVID-19 cases continue to surge
across America, with more than 130,000
new cases detected every day. It’s expected
that the country will cross the 10 million
case threshold on Monday; the virus
fi rst arrived in America back in January.
New York was one of the fi rst hard-hit
states in March and April; the virus killed
thousands before social distancing and
mask-wearing mandates fi nally allowed
the state to fl atten the curve and reduce
the infection rate.
Even though New York continues to
have one of the lowest COVID-19 infection
rates in the country today, cases are
ticking upward, with the infection rate
above 2 percent. Still, Cuomo expressed
confi dence that New York would help to
control the virus with a strategy of attacking
micro-clusters of cases where they
develop.
“You have to control the virus,” Cuomo
said. “Weknow how to deal with it. You
isolate people who have a virus. You do
the testing, you follow thedata and you
put in restrictionsand government has to
step up. You needa national mask mandate
and when you see the virus starting
to fl are up – we call them micro-clusters
– we do so much testing that we can see
it in a neighborhood. Th en you bring in
restrictions to close down activity in that
neighborhood.”
REUTERS/Dado Ruvic
Photo via Getty Images
/WWW.QNS.COM
link
link
link
link
