Noelle E. C. Evans

With warmer weather in spring, a URMC orthopaedic surgeon says that injuries tend to rise as people become more active. But because of the coronavirus pandemic, orthopaedic patients are now encouraged to seek care at designated clinics rather than at emergency rooms. 

Dr. Paul Rubery, chairman of the Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation Department at University of Rochester Medical Center, says specialized orthopaedic urgent care centers are expected to receive more cases, ones that would usually end up in emergency rooms.

A temporary mortuary, or decedent holding area, is expected start operating this week in Monroe County.

The decedent holding area consists of two shipping containers. Each can hold up to 64 people who have died. They are expected to be used for any decedent regardless of how they died.

Monroe County Director of Communications Julie Philipp says this will address an anticipated shortage of mortuary space in funeral homes and local hospitals. As of Monday, 26 people in Monroe County have died from the coronavirus.

Tuesday marked Trans Visibility Day, and amid coronavirus precautions and social distancing, a group of transgender men of color still found a way to celebrate the day.

It’s not the march that was planned, but there are balloons - arranged in a display of floating pink, white, and blue balloons at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Park. 

One attendee, Zenith Sulton, says people are encouraged to write messages on the balloons in honor of Trans Visibility Day.

Three prominent U.S. feminists in the 1800s -- Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Matilda Joslyn Gage, and Lucretia Mott -- learned what women's equality could look like through personal contact with Native American women.

Historian Sally Roesch Wagner of Syracuse is the author of “Sisters in Spirit,” which chronicles the influence of Haudenosaunee women on early U.S. feminists. 

She says that the three women witnessed the mirror opposite of their own society in Haudenosaunee culture.

Siana McClean is an immigration attorney and the regional American Immigration Lawyers Association representative. She works with detainees at the Federal Detention Center in Batavia. Her drive to the court involves crossing the U.S. Canadian Border. 

But since March 16th, she hasn’t been making the trip. She's worried about the coronavirus. 

Schools have been closed since Monday. On Friday, Governor Andrew Cuomo mandated that all non-essential travel be put to a halt, and for employees to work from home with the exemption of healthcare workers and others whose work is deemed essential. That includes Monroe County's Child Protective Services.

Deputy Monroe County Executive Corinda Crossdale says that so far there are no indications that child abuse and exploitation are increasing as social distancing requires families to stay home.

Calls to Willow’s domestic violence hotline spiked on Friday and again on Monday. Over 40 calls came in Monday. That’s more than double the usual rate.

Meaghan de Chateauvieux with Willow Domestic Violence Center says she believes there is a strong correlation between those calls and concerns of having to stay home. 

She says her team is working to adjust to new demands to help survivors of domestic abuse amid concerns of a pandemic.

Dan is a volunteer with Rochester Alcoholics Anonymous, or AA. Because the group is anonymous, he doesn’t share his last name.

Dan says he’s depended on AA meetings over the last 39 years of his sobriety.

"The meetings themselves are at the center of my recovery because I depend on them to stay in touch with the mindset of recovery," he says.

However, as facilities are closing to help mitigate the spread of novel coronavirus, AA, Narcotics Anonymous, and various support group meetings have been put on hold.

Constellation Brands is facing renewed challenges over a controversial brewery in Mexicali, Mexico. On Saturday, the Fortune 500 company’s “greenfield” project will face a new test: a public consultation in Mexicali.

The Victor-based company produces wines, liquors, and beers, like Corona. Rumors spread some weeks ago that because of fears of catching the novel coronavirus, fewer people were buying Corona beer. That wasn’t the case after all.