Local News on WXHC.com is brought to you by:
Governor Kathy Hochul announced 12,000 additional covid-19 deaths in the state previously unreported by the administration before her.
Total deaths reported by healthcare facilities through HERDS – 43,432
**The Health Electronic Response Data System is a NYS DOH data source that collects confirmed daily death data as reported by hospitals, nursing homes and adult care facilities only.
Total deaths reported to and compiled by the CDC – 55,423
**Includes those who died in any location, including hospitals, nursing homes, adult care facilities, at home, in hospice and other settings.
The governor also expanded the state’s $800 million COVID-19 Pandemic Small Business Recovery Grant Program.
Starting today, any business with yearly revenues up to $2.5 million can apply for grants; up from the previous threshold of $500,000.
Additionally, the limitation for businesses helped by the Federal Paycheck Protection Program loans has been increased from $100,000 to $250,000.
Earlier this week, Hochul announced an investment to accelerate the state’s Rent Relief Program and attract more applicants.
A $1 million allocation will go towards marketing and outreach efforts to boost submissions from under-served areas.
Tenants who apply are protected from eviction while their application is under review.
The latest order from Hochul also directs rapid review of workflow and redeploys vendor staff specifically for landlord outreach and resolving incomplete applications to increase payments.
New county-by-county data on rent relief payments will be posted publicly later this week to increase transparency.
