Coronavirus

As a data engineer, Coty Pastene solves problems. So when her wife, Katie Pastene, a nurse practitioner at a Rochester hospital, shared her worries about dwindling supplies of the masks that health care workers wear to guard against coronavirus exposure, Pastene sought a way to help.

She found one in 3D printing. Like many people across the country, once she learned that 3D printers could be used to make face shields for health care workers, she set out to start making them. Pastene is also marshaling owners of the devices to join in the effort, and her campaign is gaining steam.

With most sports on hiatus due to the threat of COVID-19, trout season is set to open in New York on Wednesday, and anglers are hoping to capitalize on spreading the sport's popularity at a time when other sports are on hold.

"Everybody is hunkering down like they tell us to do, but there is currently no directive telling us we can't go fishing," said Tom Trelease, president of Oneonta's chapter of Trout Unlimited, a nationwide nonprofit organization dedicated to conserving, protecting and restoring North America's cold-water fisheries and watersheds.

Tops Friendly Markets will again be offering customers single-use plastic bags.

This change happens after New York state delayed enforcement of the ban on the plastic bags until May 15. That delay is also related to a legal challenge against the plastic bag legislation.

Tops officials say they are temporarily not enforcing the ban in order to help with sanitation concerns surrounding reusable bags and COVID-19.

A lot of local companies and organizations are stepping up to help out during the coronavirus pandemic, and that includes Kodak.  The company says it has entered into an agreement with New York state to supply isopropyl alcohol to help with the production of hand sanitizer that the state is making.

Governor Andrew Cuomo announced in early March that  the state is manufacturing its own hand sanitizer to deal with the shortage of the disinfectant product.

The Monroe County public health department, which started mapping the local spread of coronavirus cases last week, unveiled a new online dashboard for tracking the disease on Tuesday.

Watch the latest updates on the coronavirus pandemic for March 31, 2020.