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By Nick Esposito
Parts of New York will begin reopening on May 15 when New York State on Pause ends, but downtown state areas hit hard by COVID-19, such as Nassau and Suffolk, won’t, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in his COVID-19 briefing Saturday.
Cuomo’s stay-at-home order started on March 22 to limit the spread of the coronavirus. It was later extended to April 15, and then to May 15.
Cuomo on Saturday said Long Island doesn’t meet the state’s new criteria for reopening, which he detailed last week. The governor mentioned Long Island counties, specifically, could wait longer to possibly mid-June, before opening back up in stages.
To open, each New York region needs the following:
- Experience a 14-day decline in hospitalizations and deaths on a three-day rolling average.
- Regions with few COVID cases cannot exceed 15 new total cases or five new deaths on a three-day rolling average.
- A region must have fewer than two new COVID patients admitted per 100,000 residents per day.
Currently, Long Island — which has seen a decline in cases and deaths due to the bug — doesn’t check all of these boxes yet. To track the stats of coronavirus on Long Island click here.
After these guidelines are fulfilled, the region can open in four phases.
