Coronavirus

Coronavirus cases at the Monroe County Jail have nearly doubled in a matter of days, and quadrupled since last week. 

As of Friday morning, 33 inmates and 24 jail staff have tested positive for the coronavirus. That puts the positivity rate in the jail at about 4%, lower than the county’s 7.17% rate as of Friday afternoon.

According to one doctor, medical staff at local hospitals are exhausted as they care for the latest wave of COVID-19 patients -- more than twice the number who were hospitalized in the peak surge last spring.

Dr. Damanpaul Sondhi, a pulmonologist at Rochester Regional Health, said there are enough beds, thanks to the opening of additional floors at the new Sands Constellation Center for Critical Care.

But he said they're running out of nurses and respiratory therapists to meet the current patient caseload.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Thursday that he’s on board with a proposal from Democrats in Congress to offer partial relief for states whose economies have been harmed by the COVID-19 pandemic, but he said it would only be a stopgap measure.

Monroe County set a new daily high for the number of positive coronavirus cases on Thursday: 654. The county also reported 19 more deaths. The county said those deaths occurred between 11/23 and 11/30.

Monroe County Public Health Commissioner Dr. Michael Mendoza said that while small indoor gatherings with other households may seem innocuous if everyone continues to have them, numbers can still continue to rise.

If you had to choose one "word of the year," what would it be? In 2018, Oxford Languages chose
"toxic." In 2019, it chose "climate emergency." This year, lexicographers couldn't select just one. As NPR reports, Oxford decided to highlight dozens of terms that have defined our lexicon this year: "Black Lives Matter," "coronavirus," "social distancing," "systemic racism," and many more.

This hour, our guests discuss how societal events can change and shape language. They talk about which words and phrases will have staying power and why, and which might just fade away. Our guests:

• Linda Sue Park, author
• Amanda Chestnut, artist and educator
• Mark Brummitt, professor of Hebrew bible interpretation at the Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School
• Chris Fanning, director of communications at Writers & Books

Restaurants in New York are facing a dire winter, now that cold weather has ended most outdoor dining and Gov. Andrew Cuomo has placed further restrictions on indoor dining as COVID-19 rates rise.