02/06/2020
From the middle of March, when the severity of the threat that the CORONAVIRUS presented us, we have brought you daily informational briefings from Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. These men stepped forward to provide their constituents with vital information on the spread of the virus, the resources available to help the public with the virus and reassure their communities that we would get through this crisis.
Our viewers will notice that, recently, we have begun to see a paring back of those daily briefings. One is by choice and the other is by decision. The reasoning behind both moves are essentially the same.
As we wind down and begin the reopening process, new developments related to COVID – 19 become fewer and fewer. The numbers we have been monitoring continue to trend toward recovery, a trend that we had been looking forward to since the beginning of this outbreak. All of the info related to services that needed to be rendered has been made available. That information remains updated and available on government websites. They are the ones who gather that info and they are the ones to disseminate that information. We will do our best to direct our viewers to those sites.
When there is no new information, you run the risk of becoming a droning noise and lose the impact of the briefings that made them so vital to viewers in the early part of the outbreak. We are not through this yet. While these daily briefings may be somewhat de-emphasized, they are not going away until the virus is no longer such a major factor in our lives.
Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente announced that he will begin to scale back on the county’s daily briefings. Gov. Cuomo continues his daily briefing, but there is often times when there is little new developments to be reported. We have chosen to curtail our over the air broadcasts of the Cuomo briefings. However, we will continue to stream the Cuomo briefings on CNYhomepage.com. If there is an indication that the subject matter for a particular state briefing is new or of vital importance, we will broadcast that briefs as well as stream it.
Two final notes on this subject. As stated, these briefings are not going away. In Oneida County, even after the daily briefings go on hiatus, if and when the news warrants it, County Executive Picente will hold a daily briefing and we will bring it to you. The second thing to keep in mind is that, these steps back to normalcy are a good thing. Many viewers have found both Picente and Cuomo a soothing, reassuring voice. That is good and has been needed. But, we all want to get back to normal, whatever that may be. These are steps toward achieving that.
We are not going away and will continue to bring you the information that you need to make it through to the new normal. We will get there, together!
