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How is the current soft quarantine affecting you? If you're sheltering in place, how are you keeping yourself busy/entertained? What has the experience been like for you? If you're working from home, do you miss your coworkers? Do they miss you? Are you able to stay on task? What adjustments did you need to make or new things did you need to learn? How are you coping with the kids not going to school? Are you getting the help you need?

Whatever you're story, please grab your smartphone and make a selfie video about your experience and email it to howard@thebatavian.com (you can also use WeTransfer.com).

Start your video by introducing yourself.  

And if you're one of the people under a health department-directed quarantine and are willing to go on camera for an interview (Skype, live stream), email howard@thebatavian.com and we can discuss it.

Press release:

Starting this afternoon at 4 p.m. Nate McMurray, candidate for U.S. Congress in New York’s 27th District, will hold digitally accessible Town Hall-style events in an effort to stay accessible to voters during COVID-19 pandemic and necessity of social distancing. The events will be streamed live and participants will have the opportunity to ask the candidate questions and receive answers in real time.

“This is a difficult time for our nation; the already struggling families of this district will be hit hard by this pandemic and need access to their leaders and candidates now more than ever," McMurray said. "The focus of our campaign has always been to lift up the good people of this region; while the coronavirus will inarguably impact the way we interact with them, it’s critical that we maintain open lines of communication and support for one another.

"My team is committed to utilizing alternative forms of engagement in order to address concerns, discuss the issues that matter most to NY-27 residents, and connect people with the resources they need throughout this crisis."

McMurray will begin live streaming today at 4 p.m. and will start every session by reading to the children of those participating. Those interested in attending the live session may access the event here.

McMurray is a native of North Tonawanda. He ran for Congress in NY-27 in 2018 and lost by less than 1 percent of the vote. He is a family man, an Eagle Scout, and one of seven children raised by a single mother when his father died of cancer at the age of 39. McMurray worked his way through community college, earned a bachelor’s degree at SUNY Buffalo, then earned a law degree from California’s Hastings College of Law.

The U.S. government awarded McMurray a Fulbright Scholarship to study the development of constitutional democracy in South Korea. His academic successes led to positions in private law practice, where he represented U.S. business interests in Asia. He was formerly the town supervisor of Grand Island, a conservative community in Western New York, where he was instrumental in bringing fiscal responsibility to local government and millions of dollars in new business investment to the town.

Shortly, we will be live in an interview with Shawn Heubusch, Batavia's chief of police.

This is a recording of today's press briefing. Key points:

• There is still just one test-positive case of COVID-19 in Genesee County.  
• There are now 15 people under mandatory quarantine (10 yesterday).  Some of those people are symptomatic. None of the test results are back yet for the people who are symptomatic. The five additional people in quarantine are as a result of the ongoing case tracing by health department staff to identify people who were in contact with the positive case.
• There is a person from Orleans County who tested positive. That person was not symptomatic when that person traveled to another state on vacation. That person became symptomatic while on vacation. That person, who is at least 60 years old, is now in quarantine in that state. The health department is working to find out who that person might have had contact with before leaving on vacation.
• The ability to test is still limited and that is frustrating, said Paul Pettit, director of public health.
• People can get tested by their doctors. Providers also get test kits through their health care networks but those kits are also in limited supply.  Doctors are putting people into quarantine but the health department would only be notified of a positive test result so the health department does not have a count on people who might be in quarantine on a doctor's orders.

Interview with Bill Hume, owner of Foxprowl Collectables.

This is a live interview with Shelly Stein, chair of the County Legislature, co-owner Stein Farms, that we conducted at 2:30. The stream to YouTube started and then stopped.  I restarted it in the middle of the interview. This is a video recording of the entire interview.

While there have been no new confirmed cases of patients infected by coronavirus in Genesee County since yesterday, there are now 10 people under mandatory quarantine and "a couple" of them are symptomatic, according to Paul Pettit, director of public health.

Yesterday, Pettit announced Genesee County's first confirmed case. Today he revealed that the person who contracted the disease has some sort of association with the Girl Scouts.

The 10 people now in mandatory quarantine -- up from just two yesterday -- are people who came into contact either directly or one-person removed from the person who contracted COVID-19.

That person is described as at least 65 years old. The person is not hospitalized and is quarantined in isolation at home.

Pettit said Department of Health staff has worked diligently over the past 24 hours to identify the people the infected person came into contact with -- within six feet -- either while symptomatic or 24 hours prior, and he said he's confident most of those people have been identified and contacted and placed into quarantine.

"The Girl Scouts of America are being very cooperative in providing us information to help us in that investigation," Pettit said. "At this point, the relative risk to the general public, again, as we talked about in regards to this case, remains very low through our investigation. We have a very good timeline of where this individual has been and where they've gone. And we have made, again, most of those contacts at the moment and put those folks under quarantine."

There remain seven people in the county under precautionary quarantine. 

Pettit reiterated the need for people to practice social distancing -- don't touch, remain six-feet apart -- wash your hands frequently, don't touch your face, stay home if you're sick, isolate yourself as much as possible.

That will help protect you and vulnerable residents from the spread of the disease, but just as important it will help slow the spread of the flu, which can also lead to hospitalization for some people.

"I know it can be painful and it's not what people want to do, but the reality is we need to free up capacity in our health care system," Pettit said. "And that's why the governor is currently looking at alternate sites to provide additional capacity because at the moment, a lot of our beds are still full and we need to make room for folks if they do have a higher level of severity with this illness so that we can handle them. Again, going back to what we keep talking about, flatten the curve, push it out, let's free up some capacity in our health care system so we can respond to those in need."

Pettit said if you have flu-like symptoms, contact your primary health care provider. 

"We're going to continue to report out that flu still remains very prevalent in our communities," Pettit said. "So if you are having a respiratory illness, it does not necessarily mean you have COVID-19. You may have the flu or you may have some other respiratory illness, regardless of what it is. We're asking folks to stay home. This is no different than our messaging that we do year-round when you have flu."

Pettit said he's frustrated that there are so few testing kits available and that the county cannot, as of yet, offer widespread testing for COVID-19.

"It's been very challenging," Pettit said. "There's just a shortage. They're just not available, contrary to what we are hearing from the federal government, from the state government, you know, 'folks wanting to get swabbed can get swabbed.' Unfortunately, locally, that's not the case at the moment. And we're working as hard as we can to provide that capacity to our residents."

It was President Donald Trump who said on March 6 that "anybody who wants a test can get a test." 

As of March 17, there have been 25,000 tests administered in the United States. Over the same time period, there have been 274,000 tests administered in South Korea. South Korea is reportedly making progress in fighting the spread of the disease.

There are several factors involved in the lack of available tests in the United States.

Asked about the slow response by the federal government, Pettit said, "I can't comment too much on the national level. I mean, that's out of our realm and out of our wheelhouse. Is it anything we can control? I mean, 'would it, could it, should it,' those are all things that we can debate later on. The reality is we need to focus on what's going on on the ground in our community and that's what we're doing here locally with county government and what we're doing in the health department.

"And I can tell you, as I told you yesterday, we are pushing back where we're saying we need these. We're being as aggressive as we can. Any time you have community spread, we need to identify cases. That's how we contain it. That's how we isolate and quarantine folks to try to minimize that continual train of exposure. So all I can tell you is, we are doing our best."

In Italy, where news reports indicated the society and government was slow to respond to the first cases in the country, there were 475 deaths reported today. The most of any country in one day.

Additional reading: The Single Most Important Lesson From the 1918 Influenza (The New York Times Opinion Section)

NOTE: Thank you to Alecia Kaus/Video News Service for sharing a couple of minutes of video from today that I missed because I didn't notice that my camera stopped recording. Regarding our second failed attempt to live stream the press conference, my MacBook wouldn't recognize either mic I tried to use with it, so all I could do was record the press briefing.

A shed fire, with flames showing, is reported at 6177 Walkers Corner Road, Byron.

There is a boat and other equipment nearby.

Byron and South Byron along with Stafford dispatched.

This afternoon we're talking with Pembroke's school superintendent, Matthew E. Calderon.  The stream is also available on YouTube.

Coming up at 11 a.m.: Census 2020: An interview with Felipe Oltramari, Genesee County Planning director.

To watch the stream on YouTube, where you can also comment and ask questions during the interview, click here.

It was a very different atmosphere in O'Lacy's Irish Pub in Batavia tonight -- St. Patrick's Day, an evening when O'Lacy's should be brimming with life and overflowing with Guinness.

Instead, it was quiet, perhaps even a bit melancholy, as the community adjusts to social distancing in the era of coronavirus.  

The good news is, O'Lacy's sold out of corned beef and cabbage dinners.

It was also a good night for take-out at Eli Fish (including take-out brews --  yes, local bars and restaurants can serve you take-out alcohol during the present executive directive). Other restaurant owners we spoke with said they are cautiously optimistic about how things will work out now that there is a temporary prohibition about on-site dining and drinking in bars and restaurants.

Click here for a list of local establishments offering delivery and pickup.

"Onward"

Genesee County has its first confirmed case of COVID-19. A person over 65 who had been on mandatory quarantine while symptomatic. The person had not traveled, which means the was infected by community transmission.

Health care workers are investigating who the person might have had contact within the days prior to showing symptoms.  It's unclear where the person may have contracted it.

The patient has not been hospitalized and is isolated at home.

Due to privacy regulations, the person's identity is not being released.

MORE T/K

UPDATE:  Press release from the County Health Department:

We interviewed Merritt Holly, superintendent of the Le Roy Central School District, live and this video is a replay of that stream.

We'll get an update on how the district is dealing with the closure, what's available for students, and families, and how things are going in Le Roy.

If you're unable to view the stream on our home page, click here.  Also, if you follow that link, there is a live chat on YouTube where you can ask questions that I will try to incorporate into the interview.

UPDATE: Unfortunately, and I don't know why, the interview cuts off a minute or so early, a problem on YouTube's end I imagine.

Press release:

Nate McMurray, candidate for Congress in New York’s 27th District, is cancelling all public events scheduled ahead of the April 28th special election.

With 18 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Western New York, the campaign has stressed the importance of following Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommendations to minimize the spread of the virus and best protect those most susceptible to the illness. 

In place of public events, the campaign will shift its outreach efforts to online communications and asks those interested in volunteering to learn about alternative forms of engagement at www.votemcmurray.com/volunteer. 

"This is a pandemic, and we must take it seriously," McMurray said. "Going forward, we are postponing all public fundraisers and rallies of any sort. While this race remains important, we must put the health and safety of people over politics.

"We must work creatively and collaboratively because what we do now will set the tone for other upcoming elections, including the General Election in November. We have to pull together and find a way. That is what Americans do, that is what Western New Yorkers do. We will rise to the occasion. Stay with us. Stay positive. Stay strong.”

Efforts are underway to cooperate with the County Boards of Election to develop protocols to ensure ballot integrity, including a call for universal access to absentee ballots.

McMurray has reached out to the Democratic National Committee for their support in ensuring all voters will be able to participate in the special election. McMurray and his campaign team developed the following guidelines to minimize the spread of COVID-19 and to ensure the safety and health of the community:  

1. All campaign events, fundraisers and volunteer opportunities will be moved to phone outreach and online forums. 

2.  All campaign offices remain open and staff are available for literature pick up and to provide technical support to volunteers as needed.    

3. McMurray’s campaign staff are identifying community partners engaged in COVID-19 coordinated care and response; McMurray has pledged to offer his teams’ support and resources as needed to serve the public in this time of need.

WBTA interview on Main & Center about the local impact of coronavirus hosted by Dan Fischer and with Dan Ireland, CEO of UMMC; Mari Hamilton, public health educator with the Genesee County Health Department; and Kristine Voos, epidemiology coordinator with the health department.

Interview with Anibal Soler Jr., superintendent, Batavia City Schools.

If you can't view the video stream directly on our home page, click here.

Press release:

Amid a lack of federal direction and nationwide standards, New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont today announced a regional approach to combatting the novel coronavirus - or COVID-19 - throughout the tristate area.

These uniform standards will limit crowd capacity for social and recreational gatherings to 50 people, effective 8 o'clock tonight. This follows updated guidance that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued yesterday recommending the cancellation or postponement of in-person events consisting of 50 people or more.

The three governors also announced restaurants and bars will close for on-premise service and move to take-out and delivery services only. These establishments will be provided a waiver for carry-out alcohol. These measures will take effect at 8 o'clock tonight.

Finally, the three governors said they will temporarily close movie theaters, gyms, and casinos, effective at 8 o'clock tonight. 

This uniform approach to social distancing is meant to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus or COVID-19. 

"Our primary goal right now is to slow the spread of this virus so that the wave of new infections doesn't crash our healthcare system, and everyone agrees social distancing is the best way to do that," Governor Cuomo said.

"This is not a war that can be won alone, which is why New York is partnering with our neighboring states to implement a uniform standard that not only keeps our people safe but also prevents 'state shopping' where residents of one state travel to another and vice versa.

"I have called on the federal government to implement nationwide protocols but in their absence, we are taking this on ourselves."

Governor Murphy said, "With all we are seeing in our state - and across our nation and around the world - the time for us to take our strongest, and most direct, actions to date to slow the spread of coronavirus is now. I've said many times over the past several days that, in our state, we are going to get through this as one New Jersey family.

"But if we're all in this together, we must work with our neighboring states to act together. The work against coronavirus isn't just up to some of us, it's up to all of us."

Governor Lamont said, "The only way to effectively fight the spread of COVID-19 is by working together as states. We have shared interests, and a patchwork of closures and restrictions is not the best way forward. I know that because of this collaboration, we will save lives."

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: Local bar and restaurant owners, email howard@thebatavian.com with the details of your delivery/pickup plans. Include the name of the business, hours of operation, link to a menu if available (or send us a PDF and we can host it for you), and phone number and we will include you in a post about local restaurants offering the service. 

Announcement from Batavia City Schools:

Due to Genesee County declaring a countywide state of emergency, Batavia City School District will remain closed until further notice, including all school-based activities.

However, the District is taking steps to do whatever it can to support our students and our families during this unprecedented time of uncertainty.

Our nutritional services department will be providing free “grab and go” breakfast and lunch bags for all students (and all household family members under the age of 18). These will be distributed each school day from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. by the entrance of all District building properties, including the Robert Morris building, as pictured and as described here:

• Jackson: Pick up will be from the loop in front of the building (via Jackson Street);
• JK: Pick up will be in the parent loop (Vine Street);
• MS: Pick up will be on the side of the building; Please enter via Walker Place;
• HS: Pick up will be from the loop in front of the school (State Street);
• RM: Bus loop on side of the building (Union Street).

If this arrangement for food distribution poses a challenge for your family, please call your child’s school’s main office. The number for all District offices is 343-2480, then add the appropriate extension for your school building as follows: Jax is ext. 4000, JK is ext. 5000, BMS is ext. 3000, BHS is ext. 2000).

In addition, the District is collaborating with community partners about additional resources regarding food distribution and will provide updates as they become available.

Instructional information for students is also being made available so that students can continue to engage in their studies as much as possible.

All students, K-12 will have access to materials through the COVID-19 tab on our website, or through this direct link. In addition, Jackson Primary and John Kennedy will be providing paper packets for K-4 students that will be distributed with the “grab and go” breakfast/lunch bags.

Please continue to check our Facebook page and website. We will be providing updates as they become available. In addition, if you have specific questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us by email, the “Let’s Talk” app accessed through our website, or a phone call to the appropriate office or building.

For further guidance and recommendations for staying healthy and protecting yourself, your family, and others during this outbreak, please consult the attached document about "social distancing" as well as these helpful guidelines and information sources:

~ https://www.cdc.gov/coron…/2019-ncov/prepare/prevention.html

~ https://www.health.ny.gov/diseases/communicable/coronavirus/

~ https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/

A brush fire is reported on Route 262 just east of Transit Road on the south side, Byron.

Byron, South Byron, and Stafford fire departments dispatched.

UPDATE 6:18 a.m.: A chief on scene reports all equipment can be held in quarters.