Mid-Hudson, LI to reopen

Gov. Cuomo revealed plans on Sunday to reopen Long Island and the Mid-Hudson region this week, as well as campgrounds and veterinary offices — even as new coronavirus hospitalizations and deaths ticked up.

“Long Island is on track to meet the numbers on Wednesday,”

Cuomo said, referring to the seven metrics required for reopening.

“We’re preparing for Long Island to open.”

Part of that preparation is shoring up the Long Island Rail Road to safely accommodate commuters returning to work in the sectors cleared in the first phase of the state’s reopening plan, including construction, manufacturing and retailers offering curbside pickup.

“They’re going to add more cars to the trains, so people can space out and socially distance when Long Island opens,” Cuomo said in a press briefing at the Jones Beach Theater in Wantagh, LI.

Cuomo also reminded New Yorkers that masks remain mandatory on mass transit.

“I think you’re making a mistake, a grave mistake if you don’t use a mask,” he said.

While Long Island is expected to reopen on Wednesday, the governor said the Mid-Hudson region is on pace to ease back into normalcy even earlier, on Tuesday, which would leave New York City as the last of the state’s 10 regions still closed.

Mayor de Blasio has said that if current trends hold, the city may be able to reopen as early as June 1.

Cuomo also announced a handful of other reopenings: RV parks and campgrounds statewide can reopen on Monday, while veterinary practices can resume regular service on Tuesday.

But the steps forward were announced as new hospital admissions and the daily death rate increased, troubling blips amid the coronavirus’ overall decline.

The state reported a three-day rolling average of 229 new hospitalizations for COVID-19 through Saturday, up from 208 under the previous three-day rolling average.

Also, 109 state residents were confirmed to have died from the virus on Saturday, up from 84 fatalities recorded Friday.

Overall, 361,515 diagnoses and 23,391 confirmed deaths have been tallied statewide.

But the total number of patients hospitalized with the virus continued to fall, as did the number of intubated patients.