‘BIGGEST STEP’: PHASE 2 STARTS
Ryan, Cuomo hail progress but urge continued fight to stop COVID spread
The MidHudson Region took what is, “without question, the biggest step” to date Tuesday when it entered Phase 2 of reopening from coronavirus-related shutdowns, Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan said.
Ryan, speaking during a Facebook Live event, said Tuesday was “the biggest day in our county” since the start of the pandemic in mid-March, when schools and many businesses were forced to close in an effort to lower the rate of coronavirus transmission and flatten the curve of infections.
Ryan said hospitalizations due to COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus, were “holding steady” at seven on Tuesday, and that only one of the patients was in intensive care and on a ventilator.
“Everything we do as part of reopening is going towards a downward trend line,” Ryan said. “We don’t want to take that backward step.”
At his daily press briefing on Tuesday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said to New Yorkers: “The numbers are down because of you. It’s not an act of God. It’s not an act of government. It’s an act of discipline.”
All 10 regions of the state are in the process of
reopening. There are four phases to the process, and only New York City and Long Island were still in Phase 1 on Tuesday.
“What we have done in New York is an international success story,” Cuomo said. “We had the worst situation and we handled it the best, and now we can continue our work towards a new normal.”
Phase 2, among other things, allows restaurants to serve outdoors, nonessential retailers to open with certain restrictions, and salons and barbershops to cut hair again.
Ryan on Tuesday outlined his own Phase 2 “Outdoor Dining Initiative,” announcing the opening of countyowned parking lots to add outdoor seating capacity for eateries.
From 5 p.m. Friday through 6 a.m. Monday in the city of Kingston, he said, the parking lot behind the Ulster County Courthouse on Wall Street, the county employee parking lot on Main Street (between Clinton Avenue and Fair Street) and the lot at the Restorative Justice Center at 733 Broadway will have tables at which people can eat takeout meals. And food-service businesses that operate near the lots can put tables and chairs in them, he said.
Ryan also said he signed an executive order encouraging municipalities in Ulster County to suspend local ordinances and zoning laws that might prevent the expansion of outdoor restaurant seating into public spaces.
The food-service establishments must use or make available disinfecting wipes for the tables and chairs they set up, and no reusable condiments may be left on the tables, according to county. Each establishment also must provide hand sanitizer for outdoor diners.
Both Ryan and Cuomo on Tuesday stressed that even as the economy restarts, the new normal requires strict adherence to actions known to curtail the spread of the coronavirus, such as wearing face masks, maintaining social distances, and washing hands or using hand sanitizer frequently.
“If you’re not smart, you can have a spike,” Cuomo said. “... We’ve made great progress but we have to stay smart.”
By the numbers
Ulster County on Tuesday said it had had 1,766 confirmed cases of COVID-19, 1,112 recoveries and 83 deaths since the outbreak began. It said there were 471 active cases.
Ryan said Tuesday that Ulster County’s Project Resilience has so far has made 231,935 meal or groceries deliveries to county residents in need.
Greene County reported 309 total cases of COVID, 17 active cases and 18 deaths.
Columbia county reported 402 cases, 335 recoveries, 30 active cases and 37 deaths.