de Blasio: All we need is a miracle.
“It’s a new phase,” Governor Andrew Cuomo remarked today as he turned New York toward a gradual reopening of public life after the COVID-19 shutdowns. By May 15, Cuomo plans to start rolling back restrictions imposed during the peak of the outbreak, declaring those policies a success in getting to “the other side of the mountain.” The state will use different regional strategies, and a few of them might be ready to start sooner — perhaps as early as now, Cuomo suggests:
NEW: “We are on the other side of the mountain… We can intelligently turn toward reopening,” NY Gov. Cuomo says, noting phased reopenings for regions in the state could begin as soon as May 15. pic.twitter.com/MIhmVGXlMP
NBC News (@NBCNews) May 11,2020
As the rate of new COVID-19 cases in New York has declined to the rate of “about where we started this horrific situation,” Cuomo said the state is ready to begin a “safe” and prepared reopening.
Cuomo said the state has been broken down into 10 regions, each ranked across seven metrics related to the rate of infection and the hospital capacity for their residents. In the most concrete step toward restarting the virus-stricken state, Cuomo said three regions—the Southern Tier, Mohawk Valley, and the Finger Lakes—have met the readiness metrics and proved they have controlled their infection rate and established local hospitals have the capacity and testing to handle any possible virus resurgence.
“Some regions are ready to go today,” Cuomo said, noting that other regions are very close to begin the re-opening process. “This is the next big phase in the historic journey.”
That’s good news for the White House, which has emphasized the need to get economic activity expanded quickly.
