“Stay home” is back. With coronavirus cases rising, New York City is advising seniors and people with underlying health conditions to leave the house as little as possible — going out only for work, school, or essential trips like medical care and grocery shopping.

The new advisory from the city health commissioner also urges anyone who lives with a high-risk family member to hunker down. And it tells people over 65 and those with conditions including heart disease, cancer, and diabetes not to have guests in their homes or travel around or outside the city.

The stricter guidance comes as more than 1,100 people are hospitalized with Covid-19 — a number that had doubled in less than three weeks, and is the highest level seen since early June. “This escalation unfortunately follows a tragically familiar pattern: cases grow, hospitalizations follow, and, sadly, too many result in critical illness or even death,” said Health Commissioner Dave Chokshi. “Every one of those hospitalizations represents a person, fighting to recover, a livelihood interrupted, and a household distraught.”

While voluntary, the new advisory is intended to communicate the seriousness of the disease’s resurgence, but it also underlines the complications of protecting the most vulnerable when many live in multi-generational households or have to work themselves. The city’s positive test rate is now up to 4.14 percent on a seven-day average, and daily cases have grown to 1,685. Hospitals are not yet overwhelmed, but that could change if the numbers continue to worsen, Gov. Andrew Cuomo warned this week. So far, ICUs at the public hospitals are about two-thirds full.

IT’S WEDNESDAY. Got tips, suggestions or thoughts? Let us know ... By email: [email protected] and [email protected], or on Twitter: @erinmdurkin and @annagronewold

WHERE’S ANDREW? No public schedule available by press time.

WHERE’S BILL? Holding a media availability and attending the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting.

WALL STREET executive Ray McGuire is running for mayor — literally. Six weeks after leaving his job as a vice chairman at Citigroup, the 63-year-old Manhattan resident plans to launch his campaign Wednesday with a video featuring him jogging through city streets as Spike Lee narrates a tale of New York’s pandemic-era struggles. “The world has changed, my fearless New Yorkers,” Lee says after the video opens with a clip of McGuire pacing in sweats through a desolate Times Square. “Twenty-four-thousand of our neighbors have died from Covid. A million of our sisters and brothers were thrown out of work.” Over the melody of Wynton Marsalis’ “Deeper than Dreams," the famed film director runs through an account of establishments shuttered by the coronavirus — barbershops, restaurants, Broadway theaters — as cameras zoom in on boarded-up stores and food lines of masked New Yorkers. The harrowing portrait of New York City is one McGuire says he is uniquely positioned to recast, with a rags-to-riches life story and a campaign war chest that his team said has already surpassed $2.3 million — more than any of his leading competitors have raised, as of the most recent public filings. POLITICO’s Sally Goldenberg

— Mayoral candidate Maya Wiley will propose a gun violence plan that would expand violence interrupter programs and send money to neighborhoods on a per-shooting basis.

“THE NEW YORK CITY Department of Health has conducted a large-scale study of New Yorkers that shows household contact and gatherings of 10 or more people as the two main drivers of coronavirus infections. The analysis, which has yet to be publicly released, comes at a critical period in the pandemic as city and state officials wrestle with how to fight a surge of new infections that could once again overwhelm hospitals. The Department of Health study was based on a controlled study involving interviews with 3,600 people conducted over a four month span, one of the largest to date in the city examining the modes of transmission. Of those interviewed, 1,200 were infected with COVID-19. In an interview with Gothamist, the city's Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi said that the study showed that people who had close contact with a household member or partner who had contracted the virus were four times as likely to be infected as those who did not have such contact. In a second major factor, those who attended a social gathering of 10 or more people were found to be twice as likely of becoming infected, he said.” Gothamist’s Elizabeth Kim

“NEW YORK CITY’s greenhouse gas output increased between 2017 and 2019 — setting back hopes of cutting the emissions by up to 40% by 2030, a new environmental progress report shows. Measured from the 2005 baseline set under the administration of then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg, emissions were down only 15% as of last year — after having decreased by 18.2% between 2005 and 2017, according to City Hall’s recently released OneNYC 2020 update. While the push to reduce emissions is a decades-long haul — with stakes raised last year by City Council legislation to cut greenhouse gases 80% by 2050 — the uptick raised concerns from environmentalists. ‘It’s a little troubling that emissions have gone up rather than gone down — and we’re moving in the wrong direction on that front,’ said Julie Tighe, president of the New York League of Conservation Voters.” The City’s Yoav Gonen

“IF THERE’s one thing New Yorkers can agree on in these divided times, it’s that they don’t want to pay more to get around the city. A bipartisan spread of politicians, transit workers, straphangers and car drivers piled on MTA execs one by one Tuesday night to voice their opposition to possible fare and toll hikes at the first official public hearing on the topic. ‘Our riders cannot simply afford another fare increase,’ state Sen. Todd Kaminsky (D-Nassau) testified via Zoom.” New York Post’s David Meyer

“TAXING SECOND homes, freezing pay for municipal employees and hiking the price of a ferry ticket are among a slew of new suggestions from the city’s Independent Budget Office as the city faces a huge revenue shortfall. The suggested ‘pied-à-terre’ tax would apply to second residences with a market value of $5 million or more, or condo and co-op units assessed at $300,000 or more. The tax, which would require action by the state legislature, could raise $390 million per year, according to IBO. A proposal to implement such a levy failed last year in Albany. A citywide pay freeze would save the city $1 billion in 2021, IBO estimates. While the city is in a hiring freeze and Mayor de Blasio has urged unions to find savings, the city could save funds by canceling anticipated wage increases, the office stated.” New York Daily News’ Shant Shahrigian

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: Former City Council Member Jimmy Vacca is making an endorsement in the competitive race for his old seat in the Bronx, backing candidate Marjorie Velázquez in her rematch against incumbent Mark Gjonaj in next year's Democratic primary. Velazquez narrowly lost to Gjonaj in the primary four years ago, and was recently endorsed by state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi and the Working Families Party. Vacca held that Council seat from 2006 through 2017. — POLITICO’s Sally Goldenberg

“ASSEMBLY Speaker Carl Heastie’s chief of staff and her husband, who is charged with smuggling cocaine into the country, lived an ‘opulent lifestyle’ that included extravagant shopping sprees at Christian Louboutin and a bank account bulging with hundreds of thousands in cash, according to prosecutors. ‘The defendant and his wife’s financial records also reflect extravagant purchases from luxury designers and significant, unexplained wealth,’ Brooklyn federal prosecutors wrote of Orlando Dennis, 31, and Jevonni Brooks-Dennis in a motion to introduce the damning evidence at trial. In less than two years, Dennis blew $12,000 at Christian Louboutin, more than $1,500 at Gucci, more than $1,300 at Burberry and more than $1,000 each at Louis Vuitton, Moschino and Prada. Since 2018, Brooks-Dennis spent $7,000 at Christian Louboutin and nearly $9,000 in hair extensions in a single year, according to the filing that includes photos posted to Instagram of the couple displaying their expensive attire. ‘In several photographs, the defendant is depicted lifting his foot to display the signature red sole commonly associated with luxury shoe designer Christian Louboutin,’ wrote Assistant US Attorney Jonathan Siegel.” New York Post’s Rebecca Rosenberg

“HIGHWAY tolls on the New York State Thruway will increase by 30% for non-E-ZPass users next year, while the toll on the Gov. Mario M. Cuomo Bridge is also set for a significant bump. The state Thruway Authority on Tuesday approved the long-anticipated toll hike, which was first proposed by the authority a full year ago. But the increase has taken on more urgency in the age of COVID-19, which has helped decimate the Thruway Authority's revenues by contributing to a severe decrease in traffic. The toll hike marks the first time the Thruway has increased tolls since 2010. It also marks the first increase since the state switched last month to cashless, all-electronic tolling, in which drivers pass through overhead gantries that capture their license plate image and bills them by mail. Highway tolls will not increase for New York-based E-ZPass users. That's in part to encourage more drivers to use the automated billing system and cut down on the number of bills mailed out.” USA Today Network’s Jon Campbell

“A FEDERAL COURT has upheld New York’s law allowing undocumented immigrants to apply for driver's licenses against a lawsuit brought by an upstate county clerk who claimed the law would make him personally liable for violating U.S. immigration policy. In a ruling issued Monday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed a lower court’s dismissal of Erie County Clerk Michael Kearns’s 2019 lawsuit seeking to block the state’s Green Light law. Kearns had sued Governor Andrew Cuomo, state Attorney General Letitia James, and New York’s Department of Motor Vehicle Commissioner Mark Schroeder on grounds that he could be prosecuted under federal immigration law for performing certain duties under the Green Light law, which shields the personal data of applicants from federal law enforcement. Once the Green Light law took effect last December, Kearns posted “If you see something, say something” signs in the Erie County auto bureaus with an ICE tipline phone number, according to WGRZ… Judge Barrington Parker issued the appellate ruling Monday after Kearns appealed. ‘The Green Light law is legal and enforceable, and today’s decision marks the third federal court to dismiss challenges brought seeking to enjoin the law,’ James said in a statement Monday.’” Gothamist’s Sophia Chang

“NURSES at Albany Medical Center Hospital continued their 24-hour strike into Tuesday night amid an ongoing stalemate with the hospital's administration over their labor contract and concerns the hospital is not doing enough to protect nurses and patients from coronavirus. Nurses on the picket line described an unsanitary scene inside the hospital where suspected and confirmed COVID-19 patients allegedly co-mingle with non-COVID patients, and where staff are asked to repeatedly reuse N95 masks so the hospital can conserve its supply. At an afternoon news conference, Albany Med officials vowed that care would not be disrupted as a result of the strike, which began early Tuesday morning and was expected to last until 7 a.m. Wednesday. The hospital hired nearly 700 temporary nurses to fill any staffing shortages, and those nurses were all tested for COVID-19 and trained on hospital protocols, officials said.

"‘I will not deny that today's a painful day for us,’ Albany Med President and CEO Dennis McKenna said. ‘The number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients has just reached the highest level in the pandemic in this region. And so for a subset of our nurses to walk away from their patients during this global health crisis is irresponsible and, quite frankly, heartbreaking.’” Times Union’s Bethany Bump

TIMES UNION EDITORIAL BOARD: ‘Do as I say’... “Everybody is being asked to sacrifice, in other words. But Mr. Cuomo refuses to abide by his own rhetoric. The message he’s sending couldn’t be more obvious: Do as I say, not as I do. In a better Albany, an independent Division of Budget would have stood up to Mr. Cuomo’s office and rejected the hires. But in Albany as it is, the DOB operates as an arm of the governor’s office; it quickly approved the hires despite the glaring deficiencies. This flouting of rules is not new. Mr. Cuomo has boasted of how he held spending down in his office, only to have it revealed that he was off-loading staff costs to various agencies to make his own bottom line look frugal. Mr. Cuomo should understand that such behavior is not without consequences as he attempts to navigate the fiscal and public health crises at hand. At a time when he and other public officials are asking the public to make sacrifices both personal and financial, those in positions of authority lose credibility if they fail to lead by example. Doing otherwise breeds cynicism, undermines trust and makes the crucial task of leading New York through this crisis that much harder.”

#UpstateAmerica: A Utica couple spent the holiday serving real Thanksgiving plates to about 80 dogs and 150 cats.

“THE UNDECIDED election between Rep. Anthony Brindisi and Claudia Tenney took a new turn today when Chenango County told a judge that it found 55 uncounted ballots. Chenango County Attorney Alan Gordon said election officials determined 44 of the ballots are valid, enough to swing an election that Tenney leads by 12 votes over Brindisi. ‘Those ballots were apparently mislaid and never counted,’ Gordon wrote in an email to state Supreme Court Justice Scott J. DelConte. Gordon said he advised the county’s Board of Elections to secure the ballots and leave them unopened in their offices. He said election officials determined 11 of the ballots are not valid because the voters were not registered.” Syracuse.com’s Mark Weiner

“U.S. REP. ELISE STEFANIK said Tuesday morning she backs President Donald J. Trump's legal challenges to the election results. Stefanik's remarks, which broke her weeks-long silence on President-elect Joe Biden's win, came during an interview on the conservative news channel Newsmax. When asked if she believes Trump won the 2020 election, Stefanik, R-Schuylerville, said: ‘I believe we need to play out the legal case. And as the president said, if the Electoral College and the vote is certified for Joe Biden, he will be ensured a smooth transition. But the American people deserve to know there is integrity and ballot security and in these key states with very thin margins, only the legal ballots are counted.’” Times Union’s Emilie Munson

“NEW YORK TRANSIT advocates on Tuesday called the proposed $15 billion federal transit aid plan as proposed by Democratic U.S. senators insufficient and more than double the amount was needed. Mass transit systems across the country have strained under the weight of the COVID-19 pandemic and the reduced ridership that has evaporated revenue. U.S. Sen. Mark Warner on Tuesday proposed a $15 billion plan. ‘The $15 billion for public transit proposed by several senators today falls short of what this moment demands,’ said Riders Alliance Executive Director Betsy Plum. ‘For six months, the Senate has left the nation's riders hanging while transit agencies's needs have only grown.’ Plum said at least $32 million is need from Congress to aid mass transit.” State of Politics’ Nick Reisman

— The Bronx man who fell into a hole full of rats is suing the city and the property owner.

— An MTA bus driver struck and killed a pedestrian on Staten Island.

— The city is offering a year’s worth of Krispy Kreme donuts and other prizes to New Yorkers who donate blood in the face of a shortage.

— Donovan Richards has been certified as the winner of the Queens borough president race, and can take office any time.

— Local officials are calling for the cancellation of an indoor gala set to be hosted this week by the New York Young Republican Club, featuring a keynote speech from Sarah Palin and an appearance by right-wing activist James O'Keefe.

— 'Trust has been broken': Hope, skepticism greet new Buffalo bishop.

— A group of artists is asking MoMA to remove the name of architect Philip Johnson from its galleries because of his white supremacist history.

— The city sheriff raided and shut down the Staten Island bar that has flouted shutdown orders, and arrested the co-owner.

— Of the 40,000 eligible businesses, only 563 have applied to the city’s Open Storefronts program.

— Criminal trials in the city’s state and federal courts have been disrupted because of the pandemic.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: former A.G. Edwin Meese is 89 … Mark Irion, head of strategic comms at Hogan Lovells … Marc La Vorgna … Nancy Haberman … Stone Phillips is 66 … Glover Park Group’s Mina Moore … Chris Berend, EVP of NBC News Digital … Brad Mielke, ABC reporter and host of the “Start Here” podcast

MAKING MOVES — Geoffrey S. Berman, the former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, is joining Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP to head their white collar defense practice. … Kimberly Harriman is joining AVANGRID, Inc. as VP for state government and public affairs. She most recently was SVP of public and regulatory affairs at the New York Power Authority.

“A TOUR BUS agent desperately tried to discern which passers-by were New Yorkers and which ones were out-of-towners. Newlyweds from Maryland, hoping to celebrate their nuptials with a special dinner, had to settle for McDonald’s. Four homeless men sat on a sidewalk, sharing cigarettes and a pipe filled with marijuana. This is Times Square, jarringly quiet beneath flashing billboards. Times Square needs a crowd, which is as much a part of its character as the incessant lights. ‘Look around,’ said Ronnie Boyd, 54, from Brooklyn, who has been selling souvenir hats and T-shirts on the sidewalk in the area since 2004. ‘Without the Broadway shows, the office workers, the tourists, the crowds, you got no Times Square.’” New York Times’ Corey Kilgannon

“FOLLOWING a number of fatal fires, including a Bronx blaze that killed a dozen people in 2017, the City Council is considering requiring owners of many buildings to install sprinklers in every apartment. The measure mandates automatic sprinklers in residential buildings 40 feet or taller. Owners would have until December 2029 to comply, at which time they would need an architect or engineer to certify completion of the work. Building and apartment owners, many cash-strapped because of the pandemic, say the renovations would displace residents and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars per building. The bill would pile onto the costs of retrofits required to meet the city’s new carbon emission caps. “This bill is absolute craziness,” said Bob Friedrich, co-president of the Presidents’ Co-op and Condo Council. “In co-ops, you don’t have big owners there with unlimited pockets of money.” The bill has attracted little notice since being introduced in October 2018, but was thrust into the spotlight when it was put on a Wednesday City Council joint committee meeting agenda alongside several other fire safety-related measures.” The Real Deal’s Kathryn Brenzel