Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul announced on Friday an aggressive plan to deploy police officers and mental-health workers into New York City’s subway, pledging to remove more than 1,000 homeless people who shelter there regularly, some of whom have contributed to escalating violence and harassment in the system.

Starting Monday, the officials said, there will be a zero-tolerance policy — enforced by the hundreds of officers who already patrol the system — for people sleeping sprawled across train seats or in stations, or for other violations of the subway’s often flouted rules of conduct, including littering, unruly behavior and lingering in a station for over an hour.

Dozens of mental-health professionals with the power to order the involuntary hospitalization of people who they deem a danger to themselves or others will be added to outreach teams systemwide.

“No more just doing whatever you want,” Mr. Adams said at a news conference at a Lower Manhattan subway station. “Those days are over. Swipe your MetroCard, ride the system, get off at your destination. That’s what this administration is saying.”

The plan, which is aimed at ending the decades-old practice of people using the nation’s busiest transit system for shelter, comes as a spike in violent crime in the system, including several high-profile shoving incidents, has made public safety a paramount concern for many riders, with some saying it has caused them to avoid the subway.

Since plummeting at the onset of the pandemic, ridership been slow to rebound, recently reaching just over half of its prepandemic levels, and the system faces a perilous financial future. The subway’s long-term viability depends on more commuters returning.

The plan also comes in the wake of a horrific crime at the Times Square subway station last month, when a 40-year-old woman, Michelle Alyssa Go, was pushed in front of a train and a homeless man with a history of schizophrenia was charged with her murder.

Even as Mr. Adams acknowledged that “the vast majority of the unhoused and the mentally ill are not dangerous” to subway riders, his plan to evict those people from the transit system does not make such a distinction.

In addition to the enforcement measures, which drew immediate criticism from advocates for homeless people, the plan also includes changes that are meant to more effectively connect homeless people, many of whom have mentally illness, substance abuse problems or both, to mental-health services and permanent housing.

In 2021, the rates of violent crime in the subway per million weekday passengers were up almost across the board compared with 2019. Felony assaults in the system were up nearly 25 percent, despite the pandemic-fueled drop in ridership.

Thirty people were pushed onto the tracks in 2021, up from 20 in 2019 and nine in 2017, the police said.

“People tell me about their fear of using the system,” Mr. Adams said on Friday. “And we’re going to ensure that fear is not New York’s reality.”

The announcement came from not only the mayor and governor, but also the transit agency’s leader, the police commissioner and city and state mental-health officials, underscoring the seriousness of the issue and the central role that officials believe the subway will play in reviving the city’s economy.

Jeffrey Gural, the chairman of GFP Real Estate, praised Mr. Adams’s approach.

“In order to get people to come back to the city, which is critical, people have to feel safe riding the subways because that’s how most of them commute,” said Mr. Gural, whose company owns several dozen buildings in the city. “It’s just that simple.”

But the plan announced on Friday lacked some details and timelines, and given the chronic shortage of housing options that are palatable and affordable to most people who choose to live in the subway, it was unclear where those evicted en masse would immediately go, if not the streets. There was little discussion of the plan’s cost or how it would be paid.

Some advocates for transit riders said that an enforcement plan that integrated health care and supportive services was a positive step.

“No one should feel they have to live in the subways, and being homeless is not a crime,” said Lisa Daglian, the executive director of the transit authority’s citizens’ advisory committee, a watchdog group. “However, there must be actions for these teams to take to be able to remove those who may do harm to themselves or others. This decades-long issue requires long-term investment to find a solution.”

But Shelly Nortz, the deputy executive director for policy for the Coalition for the Homeless, said the plan would criminalize mental illness and homelessness.

“Repeating the failed outreach-based policing strategies of the past will not end the suffering of homeless people bedding down on the subway,” she said in a statement.

Ms. Nortz welcomed provisions of the plan that call for increasing the number of available psychiatric inpatient beds, shelters with private rooms and supportive housing, which comes with on-site social services.

But she was skeptical about expanding involuntary commitment at the cost of civil liberties, at a time when there is a desperate need for what she called “ready access to voluntary inpatient and outpatient psychiatric care, including medication.”

Warren Oates, a homeless man who was taking refuge from the cold at the Times Square station on Friday afternoon, said the police should not force people out of the subway if they are not trespassing into restricted areas of the system.

Mr. Oates, who is in his 50s, said officers should be “not here to provoke” but rather to be “just here serving the law.”

The precise number of people who live in the subway is unknown, but an annual survey in January 2021 estimated the figure at about 1,300 — and that was during the time when the system closed down for four hours every night for disinfecting. The number of homeless people in the system is believed to have increased since then. It was estimated at about 1,700 in January 2020, before the pandemic.

N.Y.C. Mayor Eric Adams’s New Administration

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Police Commissioner: Keechant Sewell. The Nassau County chief of detectives becomes New York City’s first female police commissioner, taking over the nation’s largest police force amid ​​a crisis of trust in American policing and a troubling rise in violence.

Commissioner of Correction Department: Louis Molina. ​​The former N.Y.P.D. officer, who was the chief of the Las Vegas public safety department, is tasked with leading the city’s embattled Correction Department and restoring order at the troubled Rikers Island jail complex.

Chief Counsel: Brendan McGuire. ​​After a stint as a partner in a law firm’s white-collar practice, the former federal prosecutor returns to the public sector to advise the mayor on legal matters involving City Hall, the executive staff and administrative matters.

The city had already increased the police presence in the subway this year, deploying 1,000 additional officers to the system in early January. A week later, two officers were on the opposite end of the platform when Ms. Go was pushed to her death.

The mayor’s directive that officers enforce the code of conduct was an implicit acknowledgment that the Police Department had not been doing so rigorously. Mr. Adams said officers had been getting mixed messages on the subject: encouragement to enforce the rules, and condemnation when their efforts were captured on video and circulated on social media.

“I got your backs,” Mr. Adams, who was a transit officer himself. “Do your jobs. This is what you’re supposed to do.”

The plan tries to address a frequent complaint from homeless people and their advocates that mere “outreach,” in which a homeless person is typically offered a room in a barrackslike group shelter — an offer that is usually declined — is insufficient. The plan calls for the creation of about 500 new beds in private rooms.

Police officers will form teams with outreach workers and clinicians that will canvass stations and trains to steer homeless and mentally ill people out of the transit system and toward help, bringing people to hospitals when warranted.

The teams — there will be up to 30 — will focus on high-priority stations and train lines where either ridership or reported crime have increased, Keechant Sewell, the police commissioner, said.

The measures build on a state plan announced by Ms. Hochul last month to create similar “Safe Options Support” teams.

Taking broader aim at the problem of untreated mental illness, the plan calls for expanding the use of Kendra’s Law, which enables a judge to order someone into outpatient treatment.

The plan also calls on hospitals to reverse what has been a significant decrease in inpatient psychiatric beds over the past decade, which some experts say has contributed to the number of people with severe mental illness in the streets and the subway. Ms. Hochul said the state would increase Medicaid payments to hospitals for psychiatric beds.

And the plan addresses complaints from some organizations that serve homeless people that hospital emergency rooms refuse to admit some psychiatric patients they find too disruptive, or release them before they are stable or without adequate planning that would keep them from relapsing after being discharged.

Dr. Ann Marie T. Sullivan, the state mental health commissioner, said her agency would issue guidance to hospitals to ensure that the most severely ill patients — “a very small percentage of people” — are committed for longer stays.

“There are many rivers that feed the sea of homelessness,” Mr. Adams said, “and we have to dam every river if we are going to address this issue.”

Ana Ley contributed reporting.

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BEIJING — Life inside the Beijing Olympics bubble comes with a long list of rules. Wear a high-grade mask at all times. Disinfect your hands. Don’t stand within 6 feet of anyone, and don’t forget the daily COVID-19 test.

Phill Drobnick has been able to live with all those things during his time in China with the U.S. curling teams. But he drew the line at one demand: the placards that declared NO CHEERING at the Olympic arenas.

“All the venues have had signs,” said Drobnick, an Eveleth, Minn., resident and USA Curling’s director of coaching. “I’ve never been to a sporting event with no cheering, so it would have been hard not to.”

Drobnick didn’t want to push the boundaries too far, particularly in a no-nonsense country like China. Still, he didn’t come 6,000 miles to sit on his hands. And at these Olympics, where the venues are mostly empty and families are stuck at home, every sound counts.

Like last summer’s Tokyo Games, the Beijing Olympics are being held under strict COVID prevention measures. No international fans were allowed to travel to China, and only a small number of carefully screened Chinese spectators have been permitted to attend events. Those who get a seat are asked to limit their noisemaking to applause, given that shouting can spread coronavirus as well as spirit.

That has eliminated the usual Winter Games soundtrack of cowbells, German drinking songs, chants in many languages and Kleintje Pils, the official pep band of the Dutch speedskaters. But the athletes and team staffs have done their best to fill the void.

The U.S. men’s hockey team showed up at big air snowboarding, speedskating and women’s hockey. American athletes and staff from several sports came to the women’s hockey gold medal game, sitting across the arena from Canada’s supporters and starting dueling chants.

Drobnick made it to many events, and he got as good as he gave. Friday, when the U.S. men played Canada for the bronze medal in curling, American athletes gathered in the stands — properly distanced, of course — and brought Drobnick’s athletes a little joyful noise.

“That was incredible,” said Chisholm native John Shuster, skipper of the U.S. team. “It felt like our families were out there with us.”

Last summer’s Tokyo Games were not as tightly locked down as Beijing’s, but no outside spectators were permitted. The only people in the venues were members of Olympic delegations, including athletes, coaches, managers, team officials and executives, as well as volunteers and media.

That expanded slightly in Beijing. Though the spread of the omicron variant canceled plans to sell tickets, Olympics organizers selected a small number of people — anywhere from a few dozen to a few thousand — to attend events. Beijing Olympics spokeswoman Yan Jiarong said most are local residents, students and young people who applied to receive tickets and went through stringent COVID protocols.

Yan said organizers wanted to bring in a few fans to make the atmosphere as vibrant as possible. Yet the no-cheering rule kept the volume low. Spectators were given small flags to wave in lieu of yelling, and most complied, though some couldn’t stay quiet during strong performances by Chinese athletes.

The arenas weren’t completely silent. Despite the limited crowds, these Olympics still had pregame light shows, DJs, cheerleaders and Dance Cams. A crew of Chinese bagpipers performed before every session of curling. During hockey games at Wukesong Sports Centre, Dieter Ruehle — the organist for the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings and baseball’s Los Angeles Dodgers — played everything from “California Dreamin”’ to the theme from “Welcome Back, Kotter.”

The most heartfelt sound came from athletes and team staff from many countries who wanted to fill the hole left by absent families and friends. Shuster said going to other events and cheering for U.S. teams is always a special part of the Olympic experience, but it felt even more meaningful this time.

During his matches, Shuster said he recognized the voices of fellow U.S. Olympians rooting for his team. Some of them had traveled a long way within the Olympic sprawl to get there. Skeleton racer Katie Uhlaender was living in the athletes’ mountain village, but Shuster said she made it to three of his team’s final five games.

“That was not an easy trip,” he said. “She figured out how to get here because that’s the kind of teammates we are for each other on Team USA. I think those relationships and camaraderie, and the friendships with all those athletes we only see every four years, is some of my favorite stuff from the Olympics.”

Some athletes brought props. Team Germany carried a giant inflatable pretzel, which made appearances at several venues. Team Canada had a drum.

The U.S. athletes who came to the men’s bronze medal curling match were dressed head to toe in team gear, accented with necklaces, fright wigs, pompons and face paint in red, white and blue. Figure skater Jason Brown, who promised to get to as many events as possible after his own ended, brought a large American flag.

With the U.S. in a tight match, they couldn’t help but bend the rules. When Matt Hamilton made a sweet shot, they yelled, “Matt! Matt! He’s our man! If he can’t do it, no one can!”

Hamilton smiled and took a bow. “It’s amazing, the support we’ve had from these people,” he said. “They feel they’re part of a bigger team than just hockey or speedskating. We’re all part of Team USA.”

Drobnick said the groups he was with were not scolded when they yelled. But they also tried not to do it too much, knowing it ran afoul of protocols.

Saturday afternoon, he went to the National Speed Skating Oval for the men’s and women’s mass start races. Some of the U.S. skaters gave fist pumps in response to the cheers.

“It’s a pretty big facility, but going to the (start) line, you could definitely hear it,” skater Mia Manganello Kilburg said. “We kind of had our own little area where the U.S. was sitting. It was amazing to have that support, especially since we weren’t able to have spectators and family members.”

Could these Olympics have used more cowbell? Sure. Did they have spirit anyway? Yes, they did.

“We did just enough ‘USA’ chants for them to know we were here, and we’re behind them,” Drobnick said. “I think it has a huge impact when they hear people in the crowd supporting them.”

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An appellate court ruling isn’t changing how many McHenry County school districts are approaching their policies on masks and other COVID-19 mitigations.

Crystal Lake Elementary School District 47, Woodstock School District 200, Community High School District 155, Huntley School District 158 and McHenry High School District 156 all said Friday that they would continue to recommend, but not require, masks.

Attempts to reach the two McHenry County school districts named in the lawsuit challenging Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker’s mask mandate for schools that kept masks required for all but the plaintiffs – Cary School District 26 and Algonquin-based Community School District 300 – were not successful.

District 300 Superintendent Susan Harkin announced Wednesday that the district would be moving to a mask-recommended environment but did not provide a date for when that would happen. She pointed to falling COVID-19 positivity rates among students and staff as a decision driving the change.

“The transition to a mask-recommended environment will be complex for a district our size,” Harkin said. “District 300 is the sixth-largest school district in Illinois. We are home to nearly 20,000 students and 2,400 building-level staff, each with a unique perspective or concern, including nearly 1,800 students identified as immunocompromised or with health concerns. Therefore, we anticipate the transition to a mask-recommended environment will be met with optimism and anxiety.”

The McHenry County Department of Health recommends schools “adopt a layered approach to mitigation to reduce the spread of COVID-19,” spokeswoman Lindsey Salvatelli said in an email. When asked whether that includes masks, Salvatelli said the department encourages school districts “to continue as many public health mitigation strategies as possible.”

The health department also advises residents to get vaccinated and stay up to date on their COVID-19 vaccinations, she said. School districts still are required to report suspected COVID-19 outbreaks, after which health department staff will conduct a case investigation and contact tracing in cooperation with the school.

The decision to stick with optional masking for now doesn’t mean masks won’t ever return to Woodstock hallways, District 200 spokesman Kevin Lyons said.

Since masks went optional, “we’ve had no outbreaks. We’ve had no big spikes in cases,” Lyons said. “There’s been a lot of times I think we thought we were out of the woods and we weren’t quite.”

District 156 also noted that it hasn’t seen an upward tick in cases.

The district’s positivity rate has decreased significantly over the past month and is currently below 1% for staff and students since last Monday, Superintendent Ryan McTague said in a letter to families.

“Our hope is that the trend will continue moving forward,” he said. “If we begin to see a rise in COVID-positive cases at the local site-based level, we may need to employ additional mitigation strategies.”

He also pointed to other strategies the district is using to lower the chance of COVID-19 spreading in its schools, including physical distancing as much as possible, regular cleaning and disinfecting, encouraging hand-washing, recommending those who are sick to stay home, and providing optional on-site SHIELD testing for staff and students.

Optional masks aligns with District 47′s reopening plan from July, before the executive orders and emergency rules were handed down, Superintendent Kathy Hinz said in a letter to families Friday, reaffirming the current policy. Layered mitigation by the district will continue to take place, as well, she said.

District 155 will continue with its approach, which includes recommending, but not requiring, masks and encouraging students who are close contacts to stay home but not excluding them, the district said in a letter to families. Increased cleaning and sanitizing protocols also will continue, according to the letter.

Similar to other districts, students in District 155 still will be required to wear masks on school buses because that is a federal requirement separate from the state mandates.

“We encourage staff and students to stay home if they’re not feeling well and to physically distance themselves to the extent possible,” according to the letter.

District 158 also will “experience no change in current masking requirements,” spokeswoman Alex LeMoine said in an email Friday.

“The district will continue to strongly recommend that masks be worn in our schools,” LeMoine said. “As always, our priority remains the success and safety of our students and staff as we prioritize an in-person learning environment. We appreciate the flexibility of our families, staff and community as we work to continue to provide a safe environment and high-quality instruction for all of our students as we respond to the evolution of mitigation measures in schools all across the state.”

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​Harrisburg, PA – The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal Health and Plant Inspection Service (APHIS) has confirmed findings of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in birds within the United States. The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture reminds Pennsylvanians to stay vigilant and review biosecurity practices.

HPAI is very contagious and can make wild and domesticated birds very sick or lead to death. Bird owners should step up biosecurity efforts to protect their flock and Pennsylvania’s $7.1 billion poultry industry at large.

“While we have not seen HPAI yet in Pennsylvania, we must continue efforts to actively safeguard the state against the threat of this damaging virus,” said Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding. “The department’s Bureau of Animal Health and Diagnostic Services is on the forefront of controlling and eradicating diseases in livestock and poultry. Preventing emerging infectious diseases is critical to preventing economic loss to farmers and the commonwealth.”

As of February 17, 2022, the states of Indiana and Kentucky have reported commercial affected flocks and Virginia has reported a backyard affected flock of mixed birds. 

With this imminent threat of highly pathogenic avian influenza, there are strategic measures both commercial producers and backyard flock owners can take to protect their birds and operations.

Biosecurity is most important for anyone who owns or works with poultry – whether on a commercial farm, in the wild, or a backyard flock. Pennsylvanians should take proper steps to keep HPAI from spreading.

• Keep your distance: Restrict access to your property and poultry or post a biosecurity sign.
• Keep it clean: Wear clean clothes, scrub boots/shoes with disinfectant and wash hands thoroughly.
• Don’t haul disease home: If you, your employees or family have been on other farms, or other places where there is livestock and/or poultry, clean and disinfect your vehicle tires and equipment before returning home.
• Don’t borrow disease from your neighbor: Do not share equipment, tools, or other supplies with your neighbors of other livestock or poultry owners.
• Know the warning signs of infectious bird diseases: Know what diseases are of concern for your flock and be on the lookout for unusual signs of behavior, severe illness and/or sudden deaths. Early detection is important to prevent the spread of disease
• Report sick birds: Don’t wait. Report serious or unusual animal health problems to your veterinarian, local extension office, or State or Federal Animal Health officials.

Have a premises ID. The ability to identify where poultry flocks are located in a disease outbreak is important to help animal health officials stop the spread of disease quickly. Using Premises ID, state officials can quickly notify all flock owners of a dangerous disease in their area, provide recommendations for reducing the risk of their flocks becoming infected, and recommend testing if needed to rule out disease.

Keep poultry away from areas frequented by wildfowl. Keep your birds indoors at high-risk times, including right now, as highly pathogenic avian influenza is circulating in the Atlantic Flyway. If they cannot go indoors, make sure wild birds cannot access their feed and water sources.

Keep control over the access of people and equipment to poultry houses. If infected wild birds are in the area, reduce the movement of people, vehicles or equipment to and from areas where poultry are kept. Change your clothes before and after contact with your flock, and ensure visitors do the same.

Maintain sanitation of property, poultry houses, equipment, vehicles and footwear. Disinfect regularly and maintain biosecure restricted access to your facility. For commercial poultry owners, clean and disinfect housing at the end of a production cycle. Wash your hands before and after contact with birds.

All poultry producers should always ensure biosecurity practices are part of their daily routine to continue to protect the poultry industry.

Be aware of the signs and symptoms of HPAI in your flock:

• Sudden death,
• Lack of energy and appetite,
• Decreased egg production or soft-shelled, misshapen eggs,
• Nasal discharge, coughing, sneezing,
• Incoordination,
• Diarrhea.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, these avian influenza detections do not present an immediate public health concern. No human cases of these avian influenza viruses have been detected in the United States.

We encourage Pennsylvanians to reach out to the Pennsylvania Bureau of Animal Health and Diagnostics. Contact 717-772-2852 or email [email protected].

For more information about avian influenza, visit the department’s website at www.agriculture.pa.gov or the USDA’s website here USDA APHIS | Defend the Flock Program.

MEDIA CONTACT: Shannon Powers, [email protected]

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