In this issue:

It’s 2022 friends…and with it, a plethora of Omicron. In this issue, NYC’s first step into Blockchain, the new Mayor and buh-bye to the East River Park as we know it.

CORONAVIRUS

1. HERE’S THE NY SCOOP

THE STATS:

15,503,434 vaccines administered across NYC
469 new hospitalizations😱
34,294 new cases up from 20,200 last week
Cases are on the RISE…mask up and stay protected! Tap our link here to get tested.

GOOD NEWS

There’s a New Mayor in Town– Buh-Bye DeBlasio. January 1st marked the end of DeBlasio’s mayorship and the new throne of Eric Adams. Expect lots of heat from the former cop who’s stance on cracking down on crime (keeping solitary confinement), keeping schools and businesses open in person and continuing the fight against the Omicron Virus.

Governor Cap – Governor Hochul is proposing a 2 term limit (8 years) similar in vein to the Mayoral and Presidential limit on the heels of Governor Cuomo’s drop from office. His last tenure lasted 10 years and his control is still haunting as the District Attorney just dropped their case against his sexual assault charges.

BAD NEWS…

Bad News 🐻 s – NYC is averaging nearly 40,000 cases a day with over 4,500 residents hospitalized. That’s now growing faster than at any point since the beginning of the Pandemic in 2020.

DID YOU KNOW?

2. NEW YEAR ROUNDUP

A roundup of things you should know that happened in the New Year
👷🏽 East River Park Demolished – The 82 year old park is being torn down this week to create the controversial $1.45 billion East Side Coastal Resiliency Project (ESCR) – a new park that would act as a storm surge barrier.
👶 NYC’s highest deaths, lowest births in 2020 – New findings from the Health Dept show that NYC births dropped 9.4 percent from the prior year to 100,022, while deaths surged by 51 percent to 82,143. That’s the highest # of deaths since the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
💊No Health Insurance? Sign Up for NYC’s #OpenEnrollment by Jan. 31 for low to no cost health insurance.
🖥 NYC Moving to Web3? – Blockchain is here to stay, and it seems like the city is following suit. NYC announced it will test uploading open data on city demographics to a distributed network. If successful, NYC will consider moving more of its data onto the network and investing in more opportunities.
☣️ Health Insurance Reimbursements for At Home Tests – Starting next week, insurance companies will be required to reimburse you for the cost of at-home COVID tests, and the US will be quadrupling the # of at home tests.
👶 A New Bill for Juvenile Delinquents – raising the age when a Juvenile can be arrested and prosecuted from age 7 to 12. This was the lowest age a child could be prosecuted in the entire nation with kids as young as 10 being detained.

DID YOU KNOW?

3. A NOTE FROM A READER

IN RESPONSE TO LAST WEEK’S NEWSLETTER RE: THE NEW BUSHWICK PARK

Juan S. wrote in last week saying: Just writing to let you know that the $75M is not for “Bushwick gentrification”. In fact, despite the name, the park is not even in Bushwick, is in Greenpoint/Williamsburg. The Bushwick Inlet Park is a promise that was made many years ago to the community and is a much needed park that create space for people instead of a big building doing nothing. I think that talking about money for gentrification is something that a lot of people can see as a negative when in fact is restoring a much needed green space for all New Yorkers to enjoy! Hey Juan! Duly noted, and thank you for the correction. We do write for shock value sometimes because we are entertainers after all – but the new renovations surrounding the Bushwick Inlet Park are in dire need of a transformation, and it shouldn’t be seen as a negative. Here’s to a much better waterfront in Brooklyn!
– The ciaooo! team