SHORE LOOKS LIKE SUMMER
CUOMO OPENS STATE BEACHES FOR MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND
Beach lovers in New York are in luck — as long as they live near one run by the state.
Gov. Cuomo announced Friday that all state-run beaches will be open for swimming and bronzing in time for Memorial Day, but Mayor de Blasio suggested that’s “not in the cards” for city beaches like Coney Island and the Rockaways because of the coronavirus crisis.
In a briefing from Albany, Cuomo said he made the state directive because his counterparts in New Jersey, Connecticut and Delaware are opening their beaches.
“If other states were opening and New York wasn’t, you would have millions of people from New York flooding those beaches … and that wouldn’t help anyone,” Cuomo said.
It won’t be a complete beach free-for-all, though, Cuomo said.
While state beaches will open starting the Friday before Memorial Day, they can only be at 50% capacity and group sports like volleyball are strictly forbidden, according to Cuomo.
Concession stands, picnic areas and playgrounds will be closed and beachgoers will have to wear masks if 6 feet of social distancing can’t be maintained. The restrictions will be enforced by local authorities.
“Do not underestimate this virus or play with this virus,” Cuomo said.
In New
York City, beach bums will likely have to wait longer than Memorial Day weekend to get their ocean fix, de Blasio suggested.
“It’s painful because we would all love to be able to go to the beach with the hot weather, but it’s not safe yet,” de Blasio said during a briefing from City Hall, adding that he will keep evaluating the issue on a rolling basis.
In the meantime, de Blasio said there will be enhanced park patrols at city beaches to make sure New Yorkers don’t try to swim without lifeguards on duty.
The dual beach announcements came after another 132 New Yorkers died from coronavirus overnight, bringing the state’s total confirmed death toll above 22,300.
At least 15,422 of those deaths have occurred in the city, according to the latest Health Department data. De Blasio
noted that the city is seeing some coronavirus progress, including a decrease in new intensive care patients.
But the number of new hospitalizations overall went up in the latest batch of data, de Blasio said.
“That is not what we’re looking for,” de Blasio said.
The city is looking for declining numbers in three areas — new hospital admissions, ICU patients and percentage of positive tests — before some coronavirus restrictions can be lifted.
The mayor fretted that the marginal progress achieved so far could be wiped away if New Yorkers start flocking to Coney Island, Brighton Beach, Orchard Beach and the Rockaways.
“We can’t have crowds, we can’t have gatherings, we can’t have people going to the beach, we can’t have the Boardwalk get crowded, we’ve got to protect against the problems that come with people being in too close proximity in this pandemic,” de Blasio said.
Most state-run beaches near the Big Apple are on Long Island. They include Jones, Robert Moses, Gilgo and Sunken Meadow beaches.
De Blasio’s beach bummer directive rubbed some New York pols the wrong way.
State Sen. Todd Kaminsky, who represents a district that spans Long Island’s south shore, worried that city residents won’t just stay inside because of de Blasio’s order.
Instead, Kaminsky predicted that New Yorkers will either crowd to beaches that are open, which would make Cuomo’s 50% capacity mandate difficult to maintain, or head to closed beaches where there won’t be any lifeguards.
“It’s not tenable,” Kaminsky told the Daily News. “It will be chaotic.”
State Sen. Diane Savino, who represents a district that includes Coney Island and Brighton Beach, agreed.
“This is unacceptable,” Savino tweeted. “NYC must plan for beach openings. Lifeguards are essential or people will drown.”
In an apparent bid to keep people inside, de Blasio announced that the city is investing $55 million on air conditioning units for all lowincome New Yorkers. Installations, including at public housing complexes, will start next week.
Friday marked the first day that economies began to reopen in the upstate Central New York, Mohawk Valley, Southern Tier, North Country and Finger Lakes regions.
Construction, manufacturing and retail businesses started to get back on track in those regions, though workers have to maintain social distancing and wear masks, Cuomo said. For retail businesses, only curbside pickup is allowed.
Downstate, Cuomo’s socalled “New York on PAUSE” order will remain in effect through at least May 28, though regions will be allowed to start reopening if they meet certain testing and hospitalization benchmarks before then.