Metro

Andrew Cuomo outlines New York’s four-phase coronavirus reopening

By
Bernadette Hogan and
Aaron Feis
Published May 4, 2020
Updated May 4, 2020, 4:58 p.m. ET

Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday fleshed out his plans for awakening New York’s economy from its coronavirus-induced slumber, laying out a four-phase strategy for reopening businesses — as another 226 New Yorkers succumbed to the bug.

“People are all talking about reopening, which we should be talking about,” said Cuomo in a press briefing at the Wegmans Conference Center in Rochester, NY. “This is not a sustainable situation, close down everything, close down the economy, lock yourself in the home.”

Cuomo last month said that construction and manufacturing gigs in less hard-hit regions would be the first sectors to trickle back on once the current installment of the statewide prohibition on non-essential business expires on May 15.

On Monday, he expanded on that plan, now divided into four phases.

In addition to construction and manufacturing, the first group of services to return will include wholesale suppliers and select retail businesses that offer curbside pickup, Cuomo said.

The second phase would see the return of sectors including finance and insurance, real estate and other retail businesses.

Restaurants and hotels would come back online in the third phase, while the fourth phase would bring arts and entertainment venues, as well as education.

“Density is not your friend here, large gatherings are not your friend,” said Cuomo. “That’s why those situations would be down at the end.”

Cuomo additionally introduced a region-by-region scorecard, grading areas of the Empire State on seven metrics they would need to meet in order to consider a gradual return to normalcy:

  • A 14-day drop in hospitalizations, or fewer than 15 new admissions in a three-day rolling average
  • A 14-day decline in hospital deaths, or fewer than five total deaths across a three-day rolling average
  • A rate of new hospitalizations below 2 per 100,000 residents, across a three-day rolling average
  • At least 30 percent of total hospital beds unoccupied
  • At least 30 percent of ICU hospital beds unoccupied
  • At least 30 tests for every 1,000 residents per month
  • At least 30 contact tracers retained per 100,000 residents

As of Monday, no region in the state had ticked more than five of the seven boxes.

New York City now meets three of the criteria: the 14-day declines in both hospitalizations and deaths, plus the monthly testing numbers.

Long Island is the farthest off, having met only the 14-day decline in hospitalizations and the monthly testing threshold.

Cuomo articulated his vision for the future as the statewide numbers continued to trend in the right direction — though not quickly enough for his liking.

Another 226 succumbed to the disease in the 24-hour period ending at midnight Monday — down from 280 in the period prior — raising the overall toll to 19,415.

“This is the number that haunts me every day,” said Cuomo. “That’s 226 wives or brothers or sisters of children that are now suffering the loss of a loved one.”