NEW YORK (AP) — New York City’s mayor unveiled a new set of data thresholds Friday to help determine when to loosen restrictions imposed during the coronavirus pandemic, but his frequent political sparring partner, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, later said it will be up to the state — not the city — to make those decisions.
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“No local official can open or close,” Cuomo said, noting that the state has established its own set of metrics intended to measure the safety of reopening.
“We said at the beginning it’s going to be one standard that is data-driven. There’s no politics here. What’s safe is safe,” the governor said.
The offices of both Democrats have been saying that the city, among the hardest hit in the world by the virus, is on target to begin reopening its economy in the first half of June.
De Blasio said Friday that in order to enter the first phase of the reopening, including manufacturing and retail with curbside pickup, the city must stay below thresholds for three things: the daily number of people admitted to hospitals for suspected COVID-19, the total number of patients in intensive care at public hospitals and the citywide percentage of people testing positive for the virus.
“If we do it right, if people stick to the plan, stick to the guidance, we will move to Phase 1 in either the first or second week of June,” the mayor said.
De Blasio had previously said that all three metrics would have to move downward in unison for 10 to 14 days for the city to reopen.
“The day-to-day changes, the small up and downs, matter less,” he said in explaining the new criteria for reopening. “What matters more now is staying at a low level and keeping it that way and so we’re going to be talking about thresholds now.”
Cuomo’s standards, which apply to the entire state, are based around measures including whether a region has had an overall decline in the number of hospitalizations and the availability of hospital beds.
Cuomo’s top aide, Melissa DeRosa, said the indicators used by the city and the state “are in line with one another” and that the two administrations are in constant communication.
Regional economic re-openings began in upstate areas last Friday, with different industries opening in phases.
Cuomo said that Long Island and the mid-Hudson Valley region, including the city’s northern suburbs, are poised to phase economic activity back in next week if COVID-19-related deaths continue to decline and they meet state standards for contact tracing. He said construction projects can begin staging in those regions now.
Other coronavirus developments:
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THE NUMBERS
New York recorded 109 deaths Thursday. The daily death toll is down dramatically from early April but has stubbornly remained at just above 100 for five straight days.
Total hospitalizations dropped below 5,000 statewide for the first time since late March. Hospitals still see an average of 225 new patients a day.
Total hospitalizations dropped below 5,000 statewide for the first time since late March
Thios counts more than deaths which are a lag
It’s official: Cuomo and de Blasio battle it out in the final rounds of a “spitting” contest.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday said he has deemed churches and other houses of worship “essential” and called on governors to allow them to reopen this weekend despite the threat of the coronavirus.
“Today I’m identifying houses of worship — churches, synagogues and mosques — as essential places that provide essential services,” Trump said during a hastily arranged press conference Friday. He said if governors don’t abide by his request, he will “override” them, though it’s unclear what authority he has to do so.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had prepared reopening guidelines for churches and other houses of worship weeks ago, but the White House had refused to release them until Thursday when Trump abruptly changed course.
“I said ‘You better put it out.’ And they’re doing it,” Trump said Thursday at a Ford Motor Co. plant repurposed to make ventilators in Michigan. “And they’re going to be issuing something today or tomorrow on churches. We got to get our churches open.”
Leading member of “The Board of Communists ” !!!!!
Close NY down forever. What’s the difference?
He’s already taxed businesses out of the state, millions are moving out, $10 billion in debt, boondoggles that wasted millions $$ , destroying RE value, killing corona patients, wants abortions on demand and looks like an undertaker.
Just close it down forever, Mario’s boy.
We NYers are being abused by a governor and mayor who are destroying a once great state.
Democrats are blood sucking leeches who devour their “useless eaters. “Just keep voting Democrat.