CUOMO: PANDEMIC ‘NOT OVER’ AS N.Y. STILL SEEING RISE IN VIRUS CASES

New York state’s daily count of new coronavirus cases is continuing on an upward trend.

The state reported on Saturday that there were more than 1,700 new confirmed cases on Friday, up slightly from the day before — case totals not seen in New York since May.

Some of the hot spots in the state included the New York City borough of Brooklyn, where more than 350 people tested positive, and in suburban Rockland County, which saw at least 120 new cases.

New York recorded the results of more than 134,000 virus tests Friday, the most ever performed in a single day.

“This pandemic is not over,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a statement. He added: “My message to New Yorkers is please stay vigilant.”

Elsewhere, court rulings showed the divide over limitations ordered because of the pandemic. A judge in New Mexico ruled to keep limits in place for private school students while Michigan’s Supreme Court upended the governor’s powers to impose restrictions.

In Michigan, a 1945 law repeatedly used by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to respond to the coronavirus pandemic was declared unconstitutional Friday, a decision that puts months of restrictions in jeopardy while COVID-19 continues to flare up around the state.

The opinion is an extraordinary development in a monthslong conflict between Whitmer, a Democrat, and Republicans who control the Legislature and have complained that they have been shut out of sweeping orders that have impacted education, the economy and health care.

The governor said the 4-3 decision, with Republican nominated justice sin the majority, was“deeply disappointing .” But Whitmer did not signal that she was giving up. She said her emergency declaration and related orders still can remain in place for 21 days, and then many of them will continue “under alternative sources” of law. She did not elaborate.

In New Mexico, a federal judge turned down an initial request to ease pandemic-related occupancy limits for inperson instruction at private schools in New Mexico, in a setback for a lawsuit supported by the U.S. Justice Department.

In a Friday order, U.S. District Court Judge William Johnson cast doubt on the complaint from the father of a seventh-grade prep school student in Albuquerque who has only engaged in online learning during the pandemic due to provisions of a statewide public health order.

Plaintiffs say the health order unfairly limits in-person learning at private schools to 25 percent of maximum room capacity, while public schools can apply to reopen under separate guidelines at 50 percent. To date, only a portion of elementary schools have been cleared to restart in-person instruction and all public schools for grades 7-12 remain closed.

Johnson said private school students would have a better argument concerning equal protection rights if public 7-12 grade schools proceed with returning to classrooms at 50 percent occupancy.