GOV: HAVE A BANNER DAY
Says keep Memorial events small, stay in cars
ALBANY — Memorial Day ceremonies honoring those who died while serving in the military will be allowed to go forward this weekend with special coronavirus-related limits, Gov. Cuomo said Tuesday.
Small gatherings paying tribute to service members will be limited to 10 or fewer attendees, and scaled-back vehicle-only parades will also be permitted, the governor said during a press briefing on Long Island.
“Vehicle parades, I think, are appropriate and should be encouraged,” Cuomo suggested. “And again, it is an important tradition. Many people lost their lives. This is important to many, many families all across this state and nation. It’s important that the veterans be recognized. I think we can do it and do it safely.
Cuomo said coronavirus hospitalizations continued to fall statewide, and the Capital Region will join other parts of upstate in meeting the benchmarks needed to start reopening parts of the economy this week.
The area surrounding Albany will be the seventh of the state’s 10 economic areas that will see construction, manufacturing and curbside retail start up.
New York City has only met four of the seven benchmarks set by the state that would allow it to move toward lifting restrictions that have shuttered businesses in an effort to stem the spread of the deadly virus.
Cuomo noted that another 105 New Yorkers died Monday from COVID-19, including 85 in hospitals and 20 in nursing homes, a number that is “still painfully high.” Nearly 800 people were dying every day at the height of the pandemic in late March and early April.
“We are back to where we started before this tragedy descended upon us,” he said.
New York has tested 1,467,739 people for coronavirus as of Tuesday, revealing 352,845 positive cases. The state’s hospitalization rate continued to fall, totaling 5,818 patients Tuesday, down 22, according to the governor’s office.
The city alone saw another 81 deaths, bringing the total to 20,877 for the five boroughs with 16,059 confirmed COVID-19-related deaths and another 4,828 probable.
The Big Apple has had 191,650 confirmed cases of the virus so far, according to the city Health Department.
Mayor de Blasio said the city’s latest numbers are “a reminder as to how much we have to stick to the plan” of social distancing and continuing to encourage New Yorkers to avoid large gatherings.
Cuomo, speaking at Northwell Health’s Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in Manhasset, meanwhile, noted that Long Island has made great progress and said the state’s strict stay-at-home orders are the reason why.
“Did it work? You’re darn right it worked,” he said. “We’ve saved many, many lives. You look at the curve in New York versus the rest of the nation. We’re going down. Many parts of the nation the curve is still going up.”
Cuomo also directed hospitals statewide to prioritize co
ronavirus testing for children displaying symptoms similar to Kawasaki disease and toxic shock-like syndrome.
The state is currently investigating approximately 137 reported cases in which kids experienced symptoms similar to the inflammatory syndrome linked to coronavirus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines the illness as multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children or
MIS-C.
The newly discovered syndrome has killed at least five children across the state, including a 5-year-old in New York City, a 7-year-old in Westchester and a teenager in Suffolk County.
The governor again urged Congress to pass legislation that would deliver financial aid to state and local governments suffering from devastating revenue losses as the pandemic swept across the country.
He and fellow members of the National Governors Association are pushing lawmakers to provide at least $500 billion to states.
“In unison, we’re saying to Washington, ‘You need to pass funding for state and local governments,’ ” he said.
Officials say the state is facing a $61 billion budget gap over the next four years because of the pandemic and potential 20% budget cuts to schools, hospitals and local governments could be implemented if Congress doesn’t act.
“We’ll see in a couple of weeks,” Cuomo said, adding that if a bill is not passed, “Washington will be more reckless and irresponsible than even I thought they were — and that’s saying something.”