Currents News reports secular and religious news from the Catholic perspective.
Some of the top stories on this newscast:
The Cuomo administration releases more data on nursing home deaths due to COVID.
It’s Catholic Schools Week and we’re kicking it off with some coding kids who are helping shape a future in hi-tech.
Pope Francis makes history – appointing women to high level positions of power at the Vatican.
By Emily Drooby
New York controversy continues over the number of COVID deaths in New York nursing homes.
State officials released new totals this weekend, upping the death toll at adult-care facilities by more than 1,500.
The information is part of an ongoing battle between the state, a government watchdog group, and some lawmakers.
An additional 1,516 COVID deaths have been added onto the count for New York state adult-care facilities, raising the state’s death tally at elderly care facilities – which includes nursing homes – to about 15,000.
But, the numbers of deaths aren’t new – they were just attributed to hospitals before.
The new totals released this weekend coming from a battle for transparency started by a think tank on behalf of family members demanding more accurate accounting.
Over the summer, there was talk that the number of nursing home deaths attributed to COVID-19 could be much higher than the state was reporting. That’s because people in elderly care facilities who died in hospitals were not being counted.
In August, The Empire Center For Public Policy decided to look into the claims and submitted a freedom of information law request, or foil, to the state for more numbers.
A foil is basically a request for data that the government has to answer except in rare cases, such as classified defense information. Anyone can file one.
After seeing long delays in their requested information, Empire Center filed a lawsuit along with state senator Jim Tedisco.
Still the state continued to delay – setting a release date for the end of March.
“Reporting the number of deaths is always the hardest number to put out there, and we wanted to make sure those numbers were accurate,” State Health Commissioner Howard Zucker has said.
Some of the requested information was released after a scathing report by the state’s attorney general.
However, the foil hasn’t been entirely fulfilled according to the center. They are still waiting for a breakdown of daily deaths, hoping to use this information to take a deeper look at the impact of a highly criticized early-pandemic decision by the Cuomo administration to force nursing homes to accept COVID positive patients.
“Numerous mistakes made, and bad policy decisions made that directly resulted in the deaths of thousands of New Yorkers who didn’t have to die,” New York City Councilman Eric Ulrich told Currents News Feb. 2, “and then the governor tried to cover that up.”
Currents News Staff
Bill Hammond from The Empire Center, a government watchdog group, was the driving force behind the lawsuit that put the count on New York nursing home deaths — and the Cuomo administration — under the microscope.
Bill joins Currents News to discuss the new data about coronavirus and New York’s nursing home deaths.
Currents News Staff
In September 2019, Pope Francis met with a network of doctors who provide health care to ethnic minorities in New York.
“This solidarity with the sick is a real treasure, and it is a distinctive sign of authentic health care and assistance, which puts the person and his needs at the center,” the Holy Father said.
The doctors of SOMOS Community Care never suspected that they would be faced with the biggest challenge of our time: the coronavirus pandemic.
The virus spread quickly among them and their patients, most of whom live in crowded apartments and struggle with more serious health conditions.
But, they didn’t give up.
“I think our meeting with Pope Francis in September 2019 was prophetic,” Ramón Tallaj, founder of SOMOS Community Care. “This message telling us what we had to do with the poor in New York, and I don’t think we’ve let him down. We haven’t failed him. I think we’ve done the work and we feel very good about it, and if it happens again, we’ll do it again.”
This network of family physicians, doctors are from the same cultural communities as their patients, and treat them in the language most familiar to them. Now, they’re administering vaccines, to guarantee an equitable distribution.
They’ve set up vaccination centers in schools, churches and synagogues throughout New York, to make people feel more comfortable.
“We have the vaccine of hope for the virus of solitude. That’s what we called it: the vaccine of hope,” said Ramón. “The vaccine is more important than the disease. if you don’t want the vaccine, the virus will get to you sooner or later.”
This group of doctors was one of the first to take action when the pandemic broke out, and it has remained one of the most active.
Besides administering vaccines, they have given about half a million COVID-19 tests and also addressed the socioeconomic crisis.
SOMOS Community Care has also distributed 5 million rations of food; supported small businesses in the city; and helped people in need of financial resources pay for funeral costs.
They are doctors who refuse to leave anyone behind.
Currents News reports secular and religious news from the Catholic perspective.
Some of the top stories on this special edition:
Through wind, rain and heavy snow, Catholic Charities is braving the extreme conditions all week long to bring hot food to those in need.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is still in the hot seat over nursing home deaths – even the White House could soon be getting involved.
Their dreams could become a reality as the Biden administration discusses a path to citizenship for DACA recipients.
Plus, Christmas in February – the NYPD and the Catholic Church coming together to bring cheer to families struggling during the pandemic.
Currents News reports secular and religious news from the Catholic perspective.
Some of the top stories on this newscast:
MTA workers who lost their lives to COVID-19, memorialized on screens throughout New York City. We speak with the son of one of those workers.
President Joe Biden is calling for unity and a return to faith at this year’s National Prayer Breakfast, the commander in chief also promising to raise the number of refugees allowed in the country. The move is being applauded by U.S. bishops.
A step toward normalcy – Pope Francis returns to one of the most famous windows in the world for his weekly Angelus.
By Emily Drooby
Mathew Thankachan’s father, Thankachan Mathai, was taken from him 10 months ago – a victim of COVID-19.
“I feel, like, a flood of emotions, and sadness,” he told Currents News. His dad is one of 136 Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) employees lost to the virus, memorialized in an eight minute video. Matthew saw it in person for the first time.
For many, the MTA is just part of their commute, but for Matthew’s father, it was much more.
“He just got this job right as his son was born, so God gave him two good things at the same time,” he explained.
Twenty years on the job, he was a cleaner at a station in Queens when he passed.
“My dad was always very grateful for this job,” said Matthew, “and this memorial, it’s like the MTA is grateful for him.”
Now Matthew is grateful for his Catholic faith, this memorial, and for family moments like the ones depicted in photos.
“At heart he was a family man, so that’s why we picked that photo,” Matthew explained of the memorial video called “Travels Far.”
So many faces lost to the pandemic: heroes – transit workers who risked everything to keep the city running.
“It was so important to us to honor these frontline workers, who came in when other people were able to stay home and they came in to make sure we could get police officers where they needed to be, healthcare workers where they needed to be,” said Monica Murray, Chief Administrative Officer for NYC Transit.
Their fellow employees still do that, every single day.
In mid-January, just days after the MTA’s 70,000 employees became eligible to get vaccinated, shots were already going into transit workers arms, with both agency and union top officials urging their employees to get vaccinated.
The MTA also working on its own not-yet-released vaccination plan.
As for these 136 families, the MTA is providing them with liaisons – point people to help with anything from grief counseling to collecting life insurance.
“Seeing this video helped me to know that I’m not alone,” said Matthew.
Just like family, the MTA is proving that their lines run deep.
Currents News Staff
Do you want answers about all things faith, theology and the Church? Well, now there’s a book for the average lay person wanting to dig deeper.
“The How to Book of Catholic Theology: Everything You Need to Know But No One Ever Taught You,” written by Father John Cush.
The Brooklyn native and Academic Dean at the Pontifical North American College says understanding theology is like falling in love with someone, and joins Currents News to discuss what this analogy means for him and his new book.
Currents News Staff
President Joe Biden delivered his first foreign policy address Feb.4 at the State Department.
Meanwhile, new jobless numbers out Thursday show many Americans are still struggling in the pandemic as lawmakers work to finalize a stimulus bill.
“We will repair our alliances, engage with the world once again,” said President Biden during his remarks. “We must meet the new moment accelerating global challenges, from the pandemic to the climate crisis, to nuclear proliferation.”
As his administration begins to lay out their agenda for addressing relations with both allies and adversaries, the White House is also emphasizing the need for economic relief at home
“Every action we take in our conduct abroad, we must take with American working families in mind,” Biden said.
As families across the country continue to struggle amid the unemployment crisis, unemployed mother of three Veronica Bedico feeds her family by using government assistance.
“I am a real person who had a real job, and now I need help so I can provide for my children,” she told Currents News.
To help families like hers, the Biden administration is proposing a nearly $2 trillion dollar COVID-relief bill aimed in part at expanding unemployment benefits and food assistance.
The Democratic-led Senate is scheduled to vote on a budget resolution that will allow them to write and pass a package with a simple majority, without needing a single Republican vote.
“There’s no doubt that some families are still struggling, this isn’t finished. But our economy does not require another multi-trillion dollar non-targeted band-aid,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Currents News Staff
The pandemic moved the annual National Prayer Breakfast to an online event for the first time in its 69-year history. On Feb. 4, President Joe Biden addressed the lives lost to COVID-19, food disparities, racial justice and appealed for unity among Americans.
“We know this time is different,” Biden said. “Over 400,000 of our fellow Americans have lost their lives to a deadly virus. Millions are out of work. We see long lines for food at food banks that stretch for miles. We hear the call for racial justice some 400 years in the making and we know the dream and more important the reality of justice for all cannot be deferred any longer. We see the existential threat of climate crisis that poses to our planet and everywhere we turn with more severe floods, stronger hurricanes and more intense wildfires.”
The nation’s second Catholic president also addressed the Jan. 6 Capitol riot as an “assault on our democracy” and referenced the “political extremism” that propelled the siege.
“We know now that we must confront and defeat political extremism, white supremacy and domestic terrorism,” he said.
Biden didn’t shy away from talking about his vision of faith as a force for good.
“Where do we turn? Faith,” Biden said. “For me in the darkest moments, faith provides hope and solace, provides clarity and purpose as well. It shows the way forward.”