Good morning,
Wednesday evening, Governor Cuomo’s office posted Executive Order 202.92, his ninety-fifth Executive Order during the COVID-19 state of emergency. Executive Order 202.92, dated January 27, 2021, continues the suspensions and modifications of law, and any directives, unless superseded, modified or otherwise expired, made by Executive Order 202 and each successor Executive Order to 202 for thirty days until February 26, 2021. In addition, Executive Order 202.92 issues modifications or suspensions of certain laws, rules and regulations as well as a new directive, each designed to address the COVID-19 pandemic. Executive Order 202.92 is effective from January 27, 2021 through February 26, 2021. A copy of Executive Order 202.92 can be found here.
NEW DIRECTIVE
- The Commissioner of Health is authorized to direct COVID-19 testing for all staff or to modify or eliminate visitation or leave for residents at any state, local, or voluntary not-for-profit congregate facility supervised or licensed by the Office of Mental Health, the Office of Addiction Services and Supports, the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities, or the Department of Health on a regular schedule or in order to control an outbreak as necessary.
SUSPENSION AND MODIFICATION OF LAWS
As with many previously issued executive orders, Executive Order 202.92 also suspends or modifies previously issued suspensions, modifications and directives from prior Executive Orders as well as certain laws, ordinances, rules and regulations to aid in New York’s efforts to combat the COVID-19 crisis, this time through February 26, 2021. Executive Order 202.92 provides as follows:
- Nassau County Administrative Code § 5-17.0(1) is modified to the extent necessary to extend the deadline to pay 2021 first half general taxes appearing on the Nassau County tax roll without interest or penalties from February 10, 2021 to March 12, 2021;
- The suspensions and modifications in Executive Order 202.24 and any extensions thereof, permitting licensed pharmacists to be designated as a qualified healthcare professional for the purpose of directing a limited service laboratory, pursuant to subdivision (3) of section 579 of the Public Health, are hereby modified only to the extent necessary to permit such pharmacist-directed limited service laboratories to also test for COVID-19 infection using a rapid test as part of the enhanced economic activity plan authorized by the Department of Health, provided that such test is FDA-approved and waived for use in a limited service laboratory;
- Executive Order 202.24, to the extent it modified section 6801 of the Education Law, to authorize licensed pharmacists to order COVID-19 tests that are approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to detect SARS-CoV-2 or its antibodies, and to administer COVID-19 tests, is hereby modified only insofar as to authorize licensed pharmacists to order tests for the detection of COVID-19, including by standing order, as part of the enhanced economic activity plan authorized by the Department of Health, provided that such test is FDA-approved and subject to certificate of waiver requirements pursuant to the federal clinical laboratory improvement act of nineteen hundred eighty-eight, and provided that such testing is performed by a limited service laboratory as part of such enhanced economic activity plan; and
- The suspensions and modifications in Executive Order 202.32 and any extensions thereof, allowing clinical laboratories to accept and examine specimens for COVID-19 testing without a prescription or order from an authorized ordering source under certain circumstances, are hereby modified only to the extent necessary to permit a limited service laboratory, authorized to test for COVID-19 infection as part of the enhanced economic activity plan authorized by the Department of Health and pursuant to this executive order, to accept and examine specimens for COVID-19 rapid testing without a patient specific order or a prescription or order from an authorized ordering source; provided that, limited service laboratories shall make available to patients (including via an online registration) the guidance to be issued by the Department of Health related to rapid testing under this Executive Order.
- A limited service lab may utilize this Executive Order as the authorized ordering source in any laboratory reports and documentation associated with testing pursuant to the enhanced economic activity plan authorized by Department of Health guidance.
- Further, to ensure appropriate follow-up with patients who test positive for COVID-19 and to ensure appropriate isolation orders are issued if necessary, the limited service laboratory shall report any positive results within 24 hours to the Department of Health through the Electronic Clinical Laboratory Reporting System (ECLRS), and the local department of health.
TAX PAYMENT EXTENSION
Executive Order 202.92 also extends, by twenty-one days, the period for paying, without interest or penalty, property taxes that are due in Saratoga County as such county has requested such an extension.