New York – The state of New York, the great epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, recorded declines in hospitalizations and deaths from this disease in the last 24 hours on Monday, thus continuing to “lower the curve” and outlining its reopening by phases and regions that will begin on May 15.
Governor Andrew Cuomo reported today that 226 people have died from COVID-19 since this Sunday, the lowest number since the end of March, and there have been some 700 new hospitalizations after several days of stabilization around 900 daily, although He recommended taking these data “with tweezers” for being from the weekend.
“We continue to go down the curve of that mountain that we climbed. Now we are on the other side of the mountain and we are beginning to see its shape,” said Cuomo, who nonetheless regretted that “the descent is not as deep as the ascent” and warned that meanwhile alcoholism, substance abuse and sexist violence are increasing.
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Reopening plan
The governor focused again on the economic reopening of the state by phases and regions, taking into account the recommendation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and keeping the transmission rate below 1.1, since if it is exceeded That figure will have to “stop everything immediately” by implying “a regrowth”.
“Instead of waiting for the entire state to be prepared (it will be necessary) to reopen by region. If the north of the state has to wait for the south to be ready, it will be a long time,” said Cuomo, who recalled that the Regions must have “at least 14 days of decrease in hospitalizations and deaths” according to the CDC.
He specified that, on average, the regions cannot have a number greater than 15 new cases or 5 deaths daily, which is far from the data that has been seen today in New York City, for example, despite the fact that he is also improving his situation.
“The benchmark is less than two COVID patients per 100,000 residents, based on your population to account for the variety of region sizes in the state,” he said.
Cuomo, who has already advanced a phased plan that would begin first by reopening the low-risk construction and manufacturing businesses, detailed a second phase on Monday that covers “professional services, retail, administrative support and the real estate sector.”
In the third phase he placed “food, catering and accommodation services”, and in the fourth phase “the arts, entertainment and recreation”, to which he added: “Large social gatherings are not good friends here.”
Controversial face masks
New York continues to work jointly with New Jersey and Connecticut to expand the ability to test for coronaviruses and track positives, and while maintaining the “pause” order, citizens have been ordered to wear a mask in public, something that Cuomo said the local governments should ensure.
“There should be fines, because you can literally kill someone for not wanting to wear the mask. It is cruel and irresponsible,” he added, although he clarified that you do not have to wear it “all the time”, but in situations where you have to distance yourself socially.
“You can take it off if you walk through the forest, but if you see someone and walk by, put it on,” he specified.
On the other hand, Cuomo announced on Friday that schools and universities will remain closed the rest of the school year and will continue offering classes “online”, a measure that New Jersey joined today.
In giving details of the reopening plans, Cuomo recognized the difficulties “analogous to those of business” for schools due to the large gatherings of people that occur in classrooms, buses or cafeterias, so he planned to issue recommendations concrete for the educational system.
