NYS: Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Monday that the Finger Lakes region, the Mohawk Valley region, and the Southern Tier have met the necessary criteria to qualify for Phase I of the NY Forward Reopening Plan.
Phase I activities can begin on Friday, May 15, when NYS on PAUSE expires, and will allow these regions to begin reopening some businesses, including construction, manufacturing and wholesale supply chain, retail for curbside pickup and drop-off or in-store pickup, and agriculture, forestry and fishing.
Governor Cuomo announces reopening developments at Monday press conference.
In order for regions to qualify for Phase I of reopening efforts, they had to meet seven criteria measuring recent hospitalizations, hospital capacities, testing, contact tracing, and more. Gov. Cuomo also announced that Central NY and North County regions have met 6 of 7 criteria, so these regions might be eligible for reopening by the end of the week.
NY will also see some low-risk activities resume statewide on Friday, including landscaping and gardening, some outdoor recreational activities like tennis, and the use of drive-in movie theatres.
The governor's administration has established regional control rooms to advise the reopening process. Gov. Cuomo said, "As we approach May 15, we have put regional control rooms in place, which are made up of the top government officials and academic and healthcare professionals in that region, to watch the situation in each region develop and increase or decrease the activity and speed of reopening based on the metrics and guidelines. These control rooms are critical because we just made it over the mountain and nobody wants to go back to the other side now."
More on the governor's Monday announcement can be found here.