Half of New York’s regions enter phase one of coronavirus reopening
Half of New York’s 10 regions officially entered phase one of reopening from their coronavirus-induced shutdowns Friday as Gov. Andrew Cuomo outlined the tight restrictions that remain in effect in those areas.
Central New York, the Finger Lakes, the Mohawk Valley, the North Country and the Southern Tier all started their reopening Friday after meeting the state’s seven COVID-related benchmarks.
“We’re going to open up half the regions in the state today,” Cuomo said during his daily press briefing in Albany as he explained that those regions are the ones “that met the numerical criteria” when it comes to targets involving hospital admissions, hospital deaths, available beds, and testing and tracing.
“There’s no politics to this judgment. There is no arbitrary nature to this judgment,” Cuomo said. “It’s all on the numbers.”
Under phase one of New York’s four-phase coronavirus reopening plan, construction, manufacturing and wholesale supply chains, and retail businesses with curbside pickup or in-store pickup only can reopen, as well as businesses in agriculture, forestry and fishing.
When it comes to residential or commercial construction, masks must be worn within six feet of another worker, the employer must provide masks and there should be no congregate meetings, Cuomo said.
For curbside pickup at retail businesses, employees and the purchaser in the car must wear masks, and gloves are preferred. Hand sanitizer must also be made available by the store owner.
In cases where there is in-store pickup because curbside pickup is not practical, social distancing is required, there will be no more than 50 percent of maximum occupancy, and patrons and store employees must wear masks.
While out in public, individuals within six feet of another person must wear a mask, said Cuomo.
“That is a requirement,” the governor said, adding, “Store owners should not let you in a store for in-store pickup if you do not have a mask.”
It is up to local officials to enforce business compliance and social distancing rules, Cuomo noted, adding that regional “control centers” will be monitoring hospitalization, infection and testing rates.
“If those numbers start to move, slow down on the activity level,” Cuomo said, explaining, “You will see an increase. We expect to see an increase, but that increase has to be monitored, has to be controlled.”
Lillie Bean, a women’s and children’s clothing store in Central New York’s Cazenovia village, was among the businesses being brought back to life throughout the state.
“I’ve gone through this with hurricane closures, but this is totally different,” store owner Lori Hunt told The Post Friday.
Hunt, who was previously filling orders through her social media accounts amid the statewide shutdown, said she has hand sanitizer available at the door and will only allow three customers inside at a time.
“No kids in the beginning because they want to touch stuff and we’re so busy disinfecting the counters and doorknobs,” said Hunt.
Cuomo also announced Friday that under phase two of reopening, hair salons can reopen.
New York City is still a ways off in hitting all seven of the state benchmarks. The Big Apple has only met four targets, while Long Island has hit five as of Friday.
Meanwhile, the governor extended New York’s stay-at-home “PAUSE” order — which was set to expire Friday — through May 28 for the regions that have not entered phase one and continued New York’s state of emergency order until June 13.
He also said state beaches would reopen for Memorial Day weekend.
However, “if a region hits its benchmark at any time regardless of the PAUSE order, then that region can reopen,” Cuomo said.
During his briefing, Cuomo said New York state saw another 132 deaths as a result of the coronavirus in a 24-hour period, bringing the total death toll to 22,302.
Though that number is trending downward, Cuomo said it’s “still painful.”
The rate of total hospitalizations for COVID-19 dropped by 312, bringing the statewide total to 6,394, but the number new hospitalizations for Thursday was slightly up from 420 to 431.
“It’s been a slow decline. There’s no doubt about that and you see there’s been several plateaus in the decline,” Cuomo said of the new daily hospitalizations.
Total ICU admissions were also on the down by 67, putting the new total at 2,156, while the number of intubations was also down by 72, bringing that figure to 1,774, according to the data.