Jun 6, 2020
From Governor Cuomo @ 7:12 PM on June 6:
New York City will enter Phase 1 on Monday, the final region of the state to do so. I want to remind New Yorkers what these phases of reopening mean. Phase 1 includes construction, manufacturing and wholesale trade. Retail operations are also included in Phase 1, but limited to curbside or in-store pickup or drop off. If you live in New York City, you can learn more about Phase 1 here, and business owners can use our Reopening Lookup Tool to see if they are eligible to reopen.
Many regions of the state (Capital Region, Central NY, Finger Lakes, Mohawk Valley, North Country, Southern Tier and Western NY) are already in Phase 2, which allows even more business to reopen. These include barber shops and salons; vehicle sales, leases and rentals; real estate; nonessential retail stores; and more. Mandatory social distancing measures and other precautions are in place to prevent the spread of COVID. Restaurants will be able to open for outdoor dining as part of Phase 2.
I encourage all New Yorkers to continue to wear a mask, wash your hands regularly and avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth with unwashed hands. The individual choices we make will either keep us safer or put us at greater risk.
Here's what else you need to know tonight:
1. I signed legislation banning price gouging of personal protective equipment through the remainder of the COVID-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, there have been countless instances of egregious price gouging, particularly of medical supplies — such as masks and hand sanitizer — that are desperately needed by our hospitals and other health care facilities. This legislation will help ensure access to these critical supplies for health care workers and the general public.
2. Places of worship will be permitted to reopen with 25 percent occupancy with all social distancing protocols in place during Phase 2 of reopening. Places of worship in the seven regions that have already entered Phase 2 can reopen beginning tomorrow, June 7th.
3. New York City's numbers still look good. The percent of positive COVID tests per day in New York City has dropped from a high of 57 percent per day to 2 percent per day. This is good to see as the city prepares to enter Phase 1 on Monday.
4. As we reopen, office workers need to be protected. I will issue an Executive Order allowing commercial buildings to conduct temperature checks for people entering office buildings as employees begin to return to the office.
5. New York is ensuring our public transportation system is equipped to protect the public health. In anticipation of New York City's reopening, the state is deploying over one million masks, as well as 25,000 gallons and 500,000 2-oz. bottles of sanitizer to the MTA.
6. The total number of COVID hospitalizations continues to move in the right direction. Total hospitalizations fell to 2,603, from 2,728 the day before. Yesterday, we lost 35 New Yorkers to the virus, which is the lowest number of COVID-related fatalities to date.
Tonight's "Deep Breath Moment": When schools shifted to distance learning, P.S. 316 Pre-K teacher Ms. Thompson wanted to show how much she missed her students. She reached out to parents and coordinated a drive-by tour so she could visit her students and give them all a socially distanced hello.
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