WHERE BUFFALO ROAM
Gov cheers opening another region, reveals relief over negative virus test
ALBANY — Gov. Cuomo got the all clear.
The governor announced Monday that he tested negative for coronavirus after getting a nasal swab live during his press conference a day earlier.
“It’s actually a nice sense of relief,” he said during a press briefing in Buffalo.
Cuomo is pushing the public to get tested if they exhibit symptoms or are exposed to someone who has the virus as the state doubled its testing capacity to reach 40,000 diagnostic tests per day.
“There’s no reason why people shouldn’t be getting tested,” he said. “If you were exposed to a person who you find out is positive for COVID, get a test. It takes 30 seconds, we have 700 locations across the state, so there’s no reason why you shouldn’t do it. Go right to the web, shows you right where the location is, sign up and go.”
As more regions of the state inch toward reopening, Cuomo said several key indicators including overall hospitalizations and ICU patients remain down statewide.
As of Sunday, 351,371 people in the state have tested positive for COVID-19, according to the state Department of Health. A total of 1,908 people are being treated in intensive care units.
Another 106 New Yorkers died from the virus on Sunday bringing the state total to 22,729.
Western New York will begin a gradual reopening on Tuesday, joining much of upstate in the first phase of the process. Construction, manufacturing and retail businesses allowing curbside pickup can start up under the plan as long as they follow strict guidelines.
“It’s been a long painful period, but we start to reopen tomorrow,” Cuomo said of the area surrounding Buffalo.
Western New York will be the sixth of 10 economic regions, joining Central New York, the Finger Lakes, the Mohawk Valley, the North Country and the Southern Tier, to start down the path to normalcy. Areas that don’t see a resurgence in cases or COVID-19 deaths can start the second phase, which includes professional services such as real estate and law offices, hair salons and barbers, in about two weeks.
The third phase, which includes restaurants and food services, would start two weeks after that.
New York City remains under the state’s strict “pause” order, which has shuttered nonessential businesses, banned gatherings and closed schools. The five boroughs are trying to meet the remaining metrics regarding testing, tracing and hospitalization rates.
The city has only met three of the seven benchmarks toward reopening as of Monday, according to the state. Cuomo has asked that 30% of hospital beds remain free as a buffer and wants to see regions up the number of trained tracers who can track positive cases.
The governor defended
the state’s handling of the pandemic as deaths have soared at nursing homes and said 320,000 testing kits are being shipped to adult longterm care facilities so they can meet the recently introduced mandate to test staff twice a week.
“If you watch what happens with the staff, it’s a canary in the coal mine for what’s happening in the nursing home and it clearly keeps the residents of the nursing home safe,” Cuomo said.
The governor also encouraged major sports teams in the state to work on a plan to play without fans, saying the state will assist in planning and logistics.
“New York State will help those major sports franchises to do just that. Hockey, basketball, baseball, football, whoever can reopen, we’ll be a ready, willing and able partner,” he said. “I think this is in the best interest of all the people and the best interest of the State of New York.”
A pair of two new experts were also added to the state’s growing list of advisers on the pandemic and New York’s efforts to reopen.
Cuomo said Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, and Dr. Samir Bhatt, a senior lecturer at Imperial College London, will assist the state in understanding the situation and moving forward.
“I want to make sure we have people reviewing and then reviewing the reviewers,” the governor said. “As many opinions of experts that we can get are the best path forward.”