Like P.E.I., New York planning to re-open in phases

With nearly 300,000 people testing positive for COVID19 in the state of New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo has outlined plans to re-open the state.

Like P.E.I., the reopening will take place in a series of phases.

To compare, P.E.I. has had 27 people test positive for coronavirus. This includes zero hospitalizations and 24 of the people have recovered.

In New York, over 18,000 people have died from the virus or comorbidities (presence of another chronic condition).

"We've been talking about reopening the state and re-imagining a new New York, and to do that we're going to have to make governmental decisions in partnership with business decisions," said Cuomo in an April 26 press conference.

Phase 1 will include opening construction and manufacturing functions with low risk and Phase 2 will open certain industries based on priority and risk level.

The decisions are based on CDC recommendations, where once a region experiences a 14-day decline in the hospitalization rates they may begin a phased re-opening.

For P.E.I., the opening of industries across the Island began on May 1.

This started with Phase 1, which includes traveller screenings at points of entry and isolation requirements, limited outdoor gatherings of no more than five individuals, non-contact outdoor recreational activities, select outdoor and construction services, non-urgent health-care services

If things go well, Phase 2 is supposed to start on May 22 with changes including indoor gatherings of no more than five individuals and outdoor gatherings of no more than 10 people, non-contact indoor recreational activities, retail businesses and select indoor services, additional non-urgent health-care services, unlicensed and licensed childcare centres.