4 APRIL 16, 2020 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Should New York eye a return to normal life soon?
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
RPOZARYCKI@QNS.COM
@ROBBPOZ
Whenever New York state decides to restart
life aft er the current coronavirus “PAUSE,”
Governor Andrew Cuomo made clear on
April 11 it will be done on a coordinated basis.
Cuomo threw cold water on Mayor Bill de Blasio’s
announcement that all New York City public schools
would remain shut down through the end of the 2019-
20 school year in June. Instruction would continue on
a remote basis.
But the governor — who originally ordered New
York City, Long Island and Westchester County schools
closed on March 16 — said schools in the region, as well
as businesses, should reopen at the same time. Cuomo
also expressed hope New York would do so in concert
with New Jersey and Connecticut, leading to a resumption
of the entire tri-state economy.
“The mayor has an opinion on New York City. Nassau
County Executive Laura Curran will have an opinion,
Suff olk County Executive Steve Bellone will have an
opinion” on when schools should reopen, Cuomo said,
“but I want to coordinate all those opinions and reopen
them at the same time.”
The question for the governor is when to reopen
schools and the economy — and the answer is still
uncertain.
“We have to think before we act. These are all big
decisions,” he said. “Reopening is a public health question
and an economic question, and I’m unwilling to
divorce the two.”
Cuomo said the state would put together a blue ribbon
panel of experts who would help make recommendations
as to when and how to restart New York state.
They will look at restart eff orts in other coronavirusstricken
countries, such as China and Italy, to minimize
the potential of a second major coronavirus outbreak
here.
As for the current epidemic, Cuomo quoted Winston
Governor Andrew Cuomo speaks as the USNS Comfort pulls into a berth in Manhattan on March 30,
2020. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri
Churchill in observing New York appeared to be at “the
end of the beginning” of the crisis.
The curve is fl attening, the governor said, pointing
to decreases in the three-day averages for hospitalizations,
intensive care admissions and intubations statewide.
YWhile acknowledging that just about everyone
wants a return to normal life before coronavirus, the
governor stressed that rushing to reopen New York
would do more harm than good, putting more at danger
of contracting coronavirus.
“There is no political conspiracy theory” behind the
shutdown related to coronavirus, Cuomo said. “It’s
uncharted waters for all of us. Let’s focus on the facts
and data and make decisions based on that.”
Cuomo repeated the belief that expanding testing
across the state will be critical toward getting New York
back on its feet. He also called on federal lawmakers to
pass a new relief package that would help compensate
New York for coronavirus-related medical expenses
and repeal the SALT (state and local tax) deduction.
Meng urges residents to stay alert of COVID-19 scammers
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
CMOHAMED@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@QNS
Queens residents are being warned of scammers
who are seeking to take advantage
of consumers during the coronavirus
outbreak.
According to Congresswoman Grace Meng, the
scams include everything from bogus vaccination
and home test kits to robocalls offering insurance
and work-at-home schemes.
“It is unconscionable that in the middle of a
public health crisis, there are those who prey on
unsuspecting individuals, and attempt to steal the
money they need during this pandemic,” Meng
said.
Meng is urging all New Yorkers, particularly
seniors, immigrant communities and vulnerable
populations to be on alert.
“If you receive a call regarding your economic
impact payment, hang up. If you receive an email or
text, do not reply, and do not click on attachments
and links. Report it to law enforcement and the
IRS,” Meng said. “The IRS will never contact you
asking for any kind of personal information.”
Among the most noted scams to be on the lookout
for are those in which criminals attempt to
steal people’s COVID-19 relief payments, the funds
consisting of up to $1,200 per adult and $500 per
child that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is in
the process of sending out to taxpayers.
The agency will in most cases deposit relief
payments into the direct deposit account that taxpayers
previously provided on their tax returns,
according to the IRS.
Taxpayers who have previously filed but did
not provide direct deposit information to the IRS
will be able to provide their banking information
online to a newly designed secure portal on IRS.
gov in mid-April. If the IRS does not have a taxpayer’s
direct deposit information, a check will
be mailed to the address on file.
Taxpayers should not provide their direct deposit
or other banking information for others to
input on their behalf into the secure portal. For
retirees (Social Security recipients) who don’t
normally have a requirement to file a tax return,
no action on their part is needed to receive their
payment.
The IRS has also provided the following tips
to help consumers to be on alert for fraudsters
seeking to steal their relief payments. When
contacting taxpayers, scammers may:
Emphasize the words “Stimulus Check” or
“Stimulus Payment.” The official term is economic
impact payment.
Ask the taxpayer to sign over their economic
impact payment check to them.
Ask by phone, email, text or social media for
verification of personal and/or banking information
saying that the information is needed
to receive or speed up their economic impact
payment.
Suggest that they can get a tax refund or economic
impact payment faster by working on the
taxpayer’s behalf. This scam could be conducted
by social media or even in person.
Lastly, mail the taxpayer a bogus check, perhaps
in an odd amount, then tell the taxpayer to
call a number or verify information online in
order to cash it.
Those who receive unsolicited emails, text messages
or social media attempts to gather information
that appear to be from either the IRS or an
organization closely linked to the IRS, such as the
Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS),
should forward it to phishing@irs.gov.
The economic impact payments are being made
available under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and
Economic Security (CARES) Act, which was recently
passed by Congress and signed into law by
the president.
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