JUNE 8? IT IS A DATE!
Reopening of NYC economy can start in days unless bug makes surprise surge: Gov
New York City can start down the slow road to economic recovery on June 8, barring any major setbacks in the coronavirus numbers, Gov. Cuomo said Friday.
As the crisis continues to wane, the city should be able to join the rest of the state and reopen construction and manufacturing businesses, the governor said during a press briefing in New Rochelle.
But, he cautioned, things will be different.
“Remember that reopening does not mean we’re going back to the way things were. It’s going to be different,” the governor said as he was joined by Mayor de Blasio via video feed. “It’s reopening to a new safer normal. People will be wearing masks and socially distanced. It’s just a new way of interacting, which is what we have to do.”
The first phase will see about 400,000 people go back to work in the five boroughs.
The governor also announced that five upstate regions could enter the second phase of the state’s reopening plan on Friday, a move welcomed by frustrated officials.
The city, which has been the epicenter of the pandemic in the U.S., still has to meet several benchmarks next week to get the green light to move forward.
“Reopening in New York City is more complicated, as we know,” Cuomo said. “But we are on track to meet all the metrics.”
The remaining metrics include having enough hospital capacity, a backup supply of personal protective equipment and strengthening the city’s ability to test and trace cases of COVID-19.
“We think all of this can be done by next week and we would be on track to open the week afterwards,” the governor added.
De Blasio, who has not always enjoyed the warmest relationship with the governor, said he was “excited to get to the point of a restart,” which was the result of “the collaboration between you and me.”
“Our teams talk all day long. We are absolutely on the same page,” he said before a technical glitch cut out his video feed.
The governor said the state and the city will work together in the coming weeks to target “hotspots” in the five boroughs where the infection rate remains dangerously high, specifically low-income and minority neighborhoods in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens.
Cuomo admitted that there are other issues that still need to be addressed, noting that commuters are right to be wary of getting on a packed subway car.
“I understand that people would be anxious about public
transit,” he said. “The public transit system will be safe.”
Additionally, de Blasio said that 2 million face masks will be distributed for free to businesses across the city during phase one and a hotline will be set up for workers to report concerns about their employers’ adherence to safety measures.
Cuomo reported that another 67 New Yorkers died of COVID-19 on Thursday, a fraction of the roughly 700 daily deaths the state saw at the height of the crisis last month.
The 152 new hospitalizations recorded Thursday were “a dramatic, dramatic drop for us,” the governor added.
New York instituted sweeping stay-at-home orders and shuttered schools and non-essential businesses on March 22 in an effort to stem the spread of the deadly virus.
Two weeks ago, a handful of upstate regions were allowed to enter the first of four phases meant to safely, and slowly, restart the stalled economy.
Five areas — the Southern Tier, Mohawk Valley, North Country, Finger Lakes and Central New York — can now advance to the second phase of the plan — a day after Cuomo sowed confusion and sparked anger among upstate officials.
In a Thursday afternoon radio interview, the governor said that “international experts” needed to review coronavirus data from the regions before they could advance to phase two.
“At a time when suffering upstate regions need clarity and confidence, they’ve gotten only more confusion,” said Assembly Minority Leader William Barclay (R-Oswego).
The second step of the state’s plan will see salons and barbers begin offering limited services and retail stores and offices open with strict capacity limits and other safety measures in place.
The state offered guidance for businesses in the second phase early Friday, detailing what salons, shops and offices will have to do to reopen safely and limiting services allowed.
Cuomo pushed back on upstate officials who said they were preparing to move forward regardless of the governor’s go-ahead and were encourage businesses to defy state mandates.
“They wanted it this morning instead of one o’clock? I can understand that,” Cuomo said. “But we want to make sure that data was reviewed by all the experts. A county executive may be very good at what they do, but they’re not an expert in viral transmission in a global pandemic.”
A new executive order signed overnight also gives businesses the ability to deny entry to customers who refuse to wear a mask or face covering.