ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday pledged that the state will be more transparent in publishing numbers which reflect key measures being used to determine if a region of the state can start to re-open from the shutdown orders he issued in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.
Cuomo’s orders were meant to try and prevent a projected surge that would overrun the state’s hospital system, which thankfully never materialized.
However, those measures also resulted in the closure of thousands of businesses, a record number of New Yorkers becoming unemployed, and a crashing of the state’s economy.
The Numbers You Asked For
Trends regarding hospitalizations, hospital deaths, and new hospitalizations reflect key benchmarks in the re-opening criteria.
For weeks, 2 on Your Side viewers have been asking us to more consistently report those numbers. However, obtaining them on a consistent basis has been challenging.
Erie County, unlike some others, has refused to provide those numbers on a daily basis, even though it gets the data on a daily basis from the New York State Department of Health.
The state health department hadn’t been making the numbers public either, only listing the number of tests given, the number of positive cases detected, and the number of deaths presumed to be from COVID-19 as part of a “virus tracker” on its website.
This data, while useful, does not factor into whether a region can re-open or not.
Cuomo appeared at the Rochester Regional Health Riedman Campus in the Rochester suburb of Irondequoit where 2 On Your Side asked him if the state could not provide a timelier and more consistent report card on where various regions stand.
Cuomo promised to do so and said the numbers would be updated daily.
You can find them by following this link.
Some Regions Set to Re-open
Cuomo announced that three regions in the state, the Finger Lakes, Southern Tier and Mohawk Valley have met all seven metrics required to begin phase one of the state's regional phased reopening plan. Providing there are no changes, starting on May 15, these three regions can begin opening businesses for phase one, which includes “construction; manufacturing and wholesale supply chain; retail for curbside pickup and drop-off or in-store pickup; and agriculture, forestry and fishing.”
Additional details on "phase one" re-openings can be found here.
The North Country and Central NY regions have met six of the seven metrics and could be ready at the end of the week, according to the governor’s office.
The Western Region, which includes Erie, Niagara, Chautauqua, Cattaraugus and Allegany counties have met five of the seven benchmarks and may therefore be unlikely to open before the end of the month.
However, several adjoining counties to the Western Region, including Genesee, Orleans, and Wyoming counties are included in the Finger Lakes Region and will be allowed to open.
This means shoppers from a closed region can in some cases travel only a few miles to obtain goods and services at stores in an open region, provided those stores are operating under the protocols outlined above.
Cuomo also made clear that the fate of an entire region is dependent on every county within the region meeting the benchmarks.
This prompted criticism from NYS Senator George Borrello, a republican who represents Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, and Allegany counties.
“While infection rates in Allegany, Cattaraugus and Chautauqua counties have consistently been among the lowest in the state throughout the COVID-19 crisis, our linkage with Erie County and its higher infection rates means that we don’t meet the metrics for reopening and our hurting, rural economies must remain shut down for at least another two weeks,” Borrello said in a statement.
“Once again, we are seeing the damage inflicted by choosing a one-size-fits-all approach over a more flexible strategy that would address the reopening of counties with urban centers independently from the rest of the REDC zone. Every passing day that we remain closed, the economic pain of our communities intensifies and the harder the climb back up will be, for both our residents and our businesses.”
More Activities Approved
The governor also announced that certain low-risk business and recreational activities can reopen statewide (regardless of region) on May 15, including businesses involving landscaping and outdoor gardening, as well as outdoor, low-risk recreational activities such as tennis; and drive-in movie theaters.
