PPE

Three Hudson Valley county executives joined New York Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney Thursday to urge Congress to deliver a coronavirus relief package that includes direct state and local funding. County leaders say they’re looking at steep revenue losses and layoffs unless the federal government throws them a lifeline.

A Newburgh, New York-based company has avoided layoffs and possibly going out of business by changing gears during the COVID-19 pandemic. It all started with a Facebook post that connected one of the company’s executives with a friend who works for a nonprofit organization that was in need of personal protective equipment.

A number of families in China banded together and donated personal protective equipment to Vassar College during the COVID-19 pandemic. The PPE has gone to students on the Poughkeepsie campus who could not go home, as well as employees. The majority of the PPE, though, has been donated to local hospitals and first responders. WAMC’s Hudson Valley Bureau Chief Allison Dunne spoke with a Vassar professor who worked with the families in China.

Although the worst impacts are being felt downstate, the coronavirus pandemic is an acute concern at hospitals across upstate New York. WAMC's Capital Region Bureau Chief Dave Lucas spoke with Albany Medical Center President and CEO Dr. Dennis McKenna.