New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo on Monday announced, in the most vital step towards rebooting his ravaged and locked down state, that vast areas of the central core of the city will be permitted to restart this weekend.
The push toward a small, regional restarting came 10 weeks following the first recorded coronavirus case in New York, which claimed the lives of over 26,000 people in the city and infected hundreds of thousands more.
The count was overwhelmingly borne by the state and its densely-packed suburbs, with far less cases and deaths so far in the more rural areas and smaller towns of the Empire State.
In a media conference at Rochester Regional Health, Cuomo said the state will usher in a "a new chapter in many ways." From his point of view, the governor said "we are on the other side of the mountain and intelligently turn toward reopening."
As the pace of new pandemic cases in the city has dropped to "about where we've started this horrific situation," Cuomo disclosed New York is ready to start a "safe and prepared reopening."
Cuomo said that May 15 is the end of the statewide lockdown, and the concern now shifts to localities. "We have taken the worst situation in the country and changed the trajectory." New York will open certain areas that meet seven conditions, including 14-day drops in hospitalizations and fatality figures, among other criteria.
Activities and businesses that will be allowed to reopen include gardening and landscaping, outdoor activities like tennis, and drive-in movie theaters, the governor said during his daily coronavirus update in New York.
In addition, Cuomo stated three regions in the city - Finger Lakes, Mohawk Valley, and Southern Tier - have met all seven criteria required to start reopening, and will do so on Friday.
The state's stay-at-home order expires on Friday, but some areas will be given permission to ease down on policies more quickly compared to others. The three regions mentioned will allow them to resume construction, agricultural and factory operations as well curbside pickup or in-store drop-off for non-retail shops in the specified regions, Cuomo said.
Cuomo added that other upstate regions could be allowed to restart soon, although the reopening of the regions still must work out logistics like creating regional "control rooms" to keep track of the effects of the reopening.
Meanwhile, new cases are dropping in 14 of the 50 US states. Among them are heavily-populated states like New York City and Detroit. The list also includes sparsely populated states like Alaska and Montana, a New York Times database showed.
