This post was originally published on this site
New York City could reach the second phase of its staggered reopening process, a step which now includes outdoor dining, as soon as early July, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Thursday.
Along with offering, for the first time, a time frame for the subsequent step in reopening, the mayor confirmed that the city’s Phase 1 of reopening will still commence on Monday, despite the continued citywide demonstrations, which Gov. Andrew Cuomo has suggested may lead to a new spike of cases.
New York City has seen widespread and heavily attended protests against racial injustice and police brutality over the past week, following the death of George Floyd, a black man who was killed in Minneapolis on May 25, when a white police officer knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes.
Don’t miss: New York is rescuing its bar life with looser alcohol rules
Cuomo cautioned on Thursday that the demonstrations, attended by tens of thousands statewide, could result in a spike in coronavirus infections and announced that he would expand the COVID-19 testing criteria to include any individuals who have attended any of the recent marches in New York.
“New York City enters Phase 1 Monday with all of this going on,” the governor said. “We have to be smart. The protesters themselves could end up causing a spike.”
Though acknowledging that many of the protesters wear masks or face coverings, “there’s no social distancing,” Cuomo said, noting that one person alone can infect hundreds, in a reminder of the highly contagious nature of the virus.
“If you were at a protest, go get a test, please,” he said. “If you were at one of those protests, I would, out of an abundance of caution, assume that you are infected.”
Despite the governor’s warnings, de Blasio remained resolute that Phase 1 would commence on Monday, and that Phase 2 could follow soon after.
“If we all work together, Phase 1 can move on to Phase 2, and at this moment Phase 2 could start as early as the beginning of July,” the mayor said. “We want to keep moving forward, but it’s going to take an intensive focus on health and safety at every moment, in every business, in everything we do.”
Both the state and the city continue to see drastically improved data regarding the virus.
In New York City, both the number of new hospital admissions for suspected COVID-19 and the number of people with the virus in ICUs remained below the recommended thresholds of 200 and 375 per day at 48 and 354, respectively, on Wednesday.
The percentage of people who tested positive for COVID-19 in the city fell to 3%, “the lowest number we have seen since this crisis began,” de Blasio said.
Statewide, total hospitalizations were down and the number of deaths on Wednesday stood at 52, a little higher than the 49 that were logged on Tuesday, but still a significant contrast from the 799 deaths that were recorded in early April
In addition to allowing industries such as real estate and hair salons to resume, the second phase of reopening in New York, as of Thursday, now includes outdoor dining. Long Island will enter Phase 2 next Wednesday, the governor said.
For New York City restaurants, de Blasio announced a new initiative “that will focus on what it takes to make outdoor seating work,” he said.
The city will be providing guidance to restaurants along with carving out space for diners by expanding curbside seating and expanding on and utilizing open streets, which have been closed to traffic amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Don’t miss: Travel plans? You might change them after reading about this passenger’s nightmarish overseas flight
“We’ll do what it takes to help this key part of life in New York City, key part of our economy, the wellspring of the livelihood of hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers, to come back, come back strong, starting in Phase 2 in July,” the mayor said.
Somewhere between 200,000 to 400,000 people are expected to return to work when the coronavirus restrictions ease for the first time on Monday.
The return should provide some further improvement on the drastic levels of unemployment that have been recorded across New York.
Across the state, close to 83,000 New Yorkers filed for unemployment benefits last week, a significant drop from the week prior, when the figure stood closer to 190,000, according to the U.S. Labor Department.
There are 1.8 million New York residents currently receiving unemployment benefits, according to the data.
Other New York coronavirus developments Thursday:
Mayor: Mayor Bill de Blasio was met with heckling and booing from the crowd after taking the stage at a rally for George Floyd in Brooklyn on Thursday. The demonstration was also attended by Floyd’s brother Terrence.
Graduation: Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that New York schools would be permitted to hold drive-in and drive-through graduation ceremonies this year, with socially distanced outdoor commencements to be re-examined down the line.
