Neil A. Carousso produces NewsNation original “Kurt’s Country” – a celebration of country music and a slice of Americana with host Kurt Bardella.
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FDA Authorizes Pfizer’s COVID-19 Vaccine
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted emergency use authorization of Pfizer and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine. WCBS 880 anchor Lynda Lopez examines the national roll out and talks with a member of President-elect Joe Biden’s COVID-19 advisory board about how shots will be distributed in communities of color.
https://omny.fm/shows/880-weekly-rewind/the-weekly-rewind-12-10-20
Listen back to The 880 Weekly Rewind, including the Week In Sound as heard on WCBS Newsradio 880, produced by Neil A. Carousso, on the media player above.
You can listen to The 880 Weekly Rewind with Lynda Lopez Friday nights at 7 PM ET for a deeper understanding of the top local, national and international stories of the week, featuring interviews with newsmakers and the Week/Month In Sound audio file.
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Bronx Native Develops Highly Effective Mask to Slow Community Spread of COVID-19
By Neil A. Carousso
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Not all masks provide equal protection.
Serial entrepreneur Jonathan Malveaux developed the Nano Air Mask at the outset of the pandemic as a way to bring a quality mask that blocks most viral particles to the general public. It is made using nanofiber technology.
“Whether you’re using a gaiter or some other cloth material, these very microscopic-size particles will get through it,” he explained.
Malveaux, whose mother and step-mother are nurses, realized the importance of masks in protecting oneself and others early in the pandemic even before public officials and the Centers for Disease Control and Protection advised Americans to wear masks to slow transmission.
“We just sprung into action. It was like survival mode,” he told WCBS 880’s Neil A. Carousso, recalling walking around the South Bronx neighborhood where he was raised wearing a mask before it became required by state law on public transportation and in establishments.
If there was more comfortable and breathable mask that provided strong protection against COVID-19, would you wear it? @NeilACarousso reports on the Nano Air Mask. https://t.co/3wmYsMWXSj pic.twitter.com/uANv7Zfii5
— WCBS 880 (@wcbs880) December 10, 2020
Florida Atlantic University researchers compared the Nano Air Mask with a cloth mask and summer face mask on mannequins in a visual cough simulation of how respiratory droplets would seep through a mask, potentially infecting those nearby with COVID-19. They found the Nano Air Mask best reduced how far droplets travel. Utah-based Nelson Labs performed an independent study and found it to be roughly 98 percent effective in filtering particles.
“The sort of issue that we all have to be focused on as well is leakage,” said Malveaux of how viral particles could penetrate the sides of the mask.
He leads a small team that manufactures the Nano Air Mask in Long Beach, CA; they are ramping up production as COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths soar nationwide. They are also working on a “pro version” for healthcare professionals similar to an N95 respirator, which is FDA-approved, featuring two straps that go around one’s head to reduce “leakage.”
“We’re really constantly innovating to make sure that we are offering exactly what (our customers) want,” Malveaux said. “The one thing that we won’t compromise on is the quality.”
He is perfecting the Nano Air Mask and will come out with a black colored version soon after numerous inquiries from his customers. Currently, the masks are only available in white. It costs $2.75 down from the original price of $4.50.
Malveaux looks forward to the day when we do not have to wear masks, but right now, his goal is universal mask compliance, which epidemiologists say is the key to reducing the risk of COVID-19 infection. He could envision people going out in public and attending events next year while wearing a high quality mask that will maintain a low transmission rate.
“We supply to lots of professional sports teams, athletes and owners across most major sports, which is fantastic; they have the resources to do the diligence quite quickly,” he said, adding, “Given how we grew up and what we were seeing – I grew up in the South Bronx – we wanted to not only do what would work for them, but also was affordable and would actually try to help make a difference.”
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Flatiron District Businesses Brace for Second Wave of COVID-19
By Neil A. Carousso
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — The Flatiron District – world-famous for being a vibrant technology hub, higher education center and home to restaurants, retail and tourism – is now bracing for a surge in COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations that could lead to industry shutdowns as a measure to help quell the spread.
James Mettham, executive director of the Flatiron/23rd Street Partnership, told Joe Connolly and Neil A. Carousso on the WCBS Small Business Spotlight, sponsored by BNB Bank, that a second shutdown without “true relief” in the form of forgivable federal government loans or grants, which would need to passed by Congress, would stifle business recovery.
The Business Improvement District says 75 percent of ground-floor food, retail and services businesses have reopened or never shutdown, deemed essential, in the spring. They had to pivot in March to survive.
Small businesses that already had an e-commerce platform are best positioned to stay afloat; others are catching up and struggling to compete with Amazon, Wal-Mart and other large companies that have seen sales accelerate in the pandemic. Amazon’s sales are up 53 percent while Wal-Mart, with a growing e-commerce site, has seen sales rise 45 percent.
Mettham told WCBS 880 some food businesses in the Flatiron District have had success through so-called “re-targeting.”
“It’s been really trying to push their goods towards local residents – folks that they can rely on being in the neighborhood and familiar with their business,” he explained.
Loyalty initiatives have also helped stores attract customers who want to support their local businesses.
Many, though, say commercial rent prices must come down for businesses to survive and new businesses to thrive.
“Landlords and tenants both understand that a vibrant neighborhood that’s occupied with a mix of uses ranging with office workers, hospitality, visitors (and) students is all in the best interest of everyone,” Mettham said.
He told Connolly and Carousso several new restaurants have taken advantage of reduced entry costs and opened their doors in the Flatiron District. The BID veteran believes the two sides will negotiate and come to an agreement because the local economy depends on it; the pandemic has underscored how one industry impacts the other in a connected economy like New York.
Before joining the Flatiron District/23rd Street Partnership, Mettham served as managing director of finance and operations at the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership. He was also assistant commissioner of the New York City Department of Small Business Services (SBS) Neighborhood Development Division and executive director of SBS’ Business Improvement District Program.
On the WCBS Small Business Spotlight, Mettham talks about the Flatiron District with reverence of its history and promise for a post-pandemic city. He sees new technology companies entering the previously bustling neighborhood, which he believes is reminiscent of the tech boom in the 1990s in Manhattan South, which earned it the moniker “Silicon Alley.”
“It’s been very both resilient and flexible and innovative in its character over the years,” Mettham said, continuing, “Whether it’s been from the photography industry, the table top industry, original Silicon Alley 20 years ago, it’s always been able to build on its successes, reinvent itself and I don’t think this is going to require a full reinvention.”
Hear more about the new businesses opening in the Flatiron District and how existing ones are bracing for the second wave of the pandemic on the WCBS Small Business Spotlight Podcast on the RADIO.COM app or on the media player above.
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Week In Sound: ‘COVID Hell’
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Promise of a COVID-19 vaccine provided hope this week while infections, hospitalizations and deaths are surging nationwide.
https://omny.fm/shows/880-weekly-rewind/week-in-sound-covid-hell
Listen back to the Week In Sound as heard on WCBS Newsradio 880, produced by Neil A. Carousso, on the media player above.
You can listen to The 880 Weekly Rewind with Lynda Lopez Friday nights at 7 PM ET for a deeper understanding of the top local, national and international stories of the week, featuring interviews with newsmakers and the Week/Month In Sound audio file.
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New Black Entrepreneurship Program Guides Members to Capitalize on Skills
By Joe Connolly and Neil A. Carousso
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — A new program has gotten corporate sponsors to fund 350 learning tools and videos to help budding Black entrepreneurs grow their businesses and tackle economic inequities exposed in the coronavirus pandemic.
The Black Entrepreneur Initiative has brought together a group of community leaders and entrepreneurs to guide 100,000 Black business owners, including journalist and actress Cathleen Trigg-Jones who started a production company in 2006 after working on then-Sen. Joe Biden’s communications team.
She told Joe Connolly on the WCBS Small Business Spotlight, sponsored by BNB Bank, that her first sale came while she was working as a news anchor for Fox 5 and My 9 in New York City and supporting her husband’s marketing and shooting and editing commercials for his medical practice.
“His business was growing and people started asking hm, ‘How did you do it?'” Trigg-Jones explained. “The clients started coming my way.”
Her company Catscape Productions produces entertaining and socially-focused content for networks, including NBC, CNN, FOX, TNT, MSG, MTV and CNBC. Trigg-Jones has acted in the CBS drama “Madam Secretary,” “House of Cards” on Netflix and SHOWTIME’s “Homeland.”
She told Connolly that her business, like many, started with a passion for media; she developed her business skills over time.
“Start a business because it’s something that you’re passionate about, something that you are an expert in,” Trigg-Jones said. “Customers are looking for authenticity.”
Through the Black Entrepreneur Initiative in partnership with The Lonely Entrepreneur, a New York-based nonprofit, members learn management tools, vendor relations, payroll and other foundational skills needed to grow a business.
Ambassadors, like Trigg-Jones, share their life experiences through weekly live coaching sessions intended to encourage Black entrepreneurs to fight through adversity and systemic issues they face. The Federal Reserve recently found white families earn eight-times the amount of typical Black families; economists believe the wealth gap is widening in the pandemic.
“I was left at an orphanage as a baby and I spent the first couple of years of my life in foster care,” she told WCBS 880 of her message to members.
“There are no mistakes in life. There’s just growth and there’s just opportunity if you just believe and if you’re open to it.”Learn more about Trigg-Jones’ inspiring story and the Black Entrepreneur Initiative on the WCBS Small Business Spotlight Podcast on the RADIO.COM app or the media player above.
