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Cuomo lays out steps to reopen; North Country has met 5 of his 7 criteria

Gov. Andrew Cuomo provides a coronavirus update during a press conference in Rochester Monday. (Provided photo — Mike Groll, governor's office)

Gov. Andew Cuomo laid out the requirements for reopening regions of New York Monday at his coronavirus briefing.

Cuomo’s PAUSE order, which put a freeze on many businesses and told residents to stay at home, expires on May 15, and Cuomo said regions could start choosing to reopen that day if they meet the right criteria and provide testing and tracing plans.

He said the questions regions will be asked are about whether their health care systems can handle reopening, whether they have testing and tracing in place, and whether regional leaders have talked to businesses about how they’re going to reopen.

Cuomo shared a graphic showing where each region of the state “stands” in regards to reopening. It showed the North Country has met five of the seven criteria to reopen.

The North Country has met the criteria of a 14-day decline in hospitalizations (or under 15 new hospitalizations) over the course of three days, and a 14-day decline in hospital deaths (or fewer than five deaths.

The region also has the lowest percentage of new hospitalizations. The requirement is that fewer than two new hospitalizations per 100,000 residents occur in a three-day period. The North Country is currently at 0.08% new hospitalizations per 100,000 residents in a three-day period, according to Cuomo’s chart.

The region also meets the requirements for open hospital beds, with 53% of total hospital beds available and 64% of intensive care unit beds available. The threshold is set at 30%.

However, the North Country did not meet either of the testing requirements listed. One requirement was to have 30 out of every 1,000 residents be tested for the virus monthly. The other is to have a baseline of 30 “contact tracers” for every 100,000 residents. No region has met this latter requirement.

Cuomo said he is building an “army” of contact tracers who will be responsible for tracking down and notifying people who have been exposed to COVID-19.

Cuomo also said regions will need to provide data from hospitals and health officials to show they are not at high risk of a new COVID-19 surge.

“These are the facts that they have to have in place to do it. Start now; don’t wait until May 15,” Cuomo said. “Don’t call me up on May 15 and say, ‘Well, the PAUSE order expired; I want to open.’ Because I’m going to ask you the questions I just presented.”

Regions will reopen in four phases.

¯ Phase 1 includes construction, businesses in the manufacturing and wholesale supply chain, and select retail stores, which will do curbside pickup.

¯ Phase 2 includes professional services, finance and insurance, all retail, administrative support and real estate/rental leasing.

¯ Phase 3 includes restaurants and hotels.

¯ Phase 4 includes arts, entertainment, recreation and education.

Even when regions reopen, the way business will operate will be altered. They will be required to adjust hours and shift design to reduce workplace density, restrict non-essential employee travel, require all employees and customers to wear masks if in frequent contact with others, clean, social distance, enact health screening processes to enter the workplace and develop liability processes.

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