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Coronavirus Numbers In New York Best Since Early Days Of Outbreak As Friday's Reopening Date Nears

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Starting this Friday, some industries will be back open for business all across the state, while others will still have to wait for conditions to improve.

As things stand Monday, Long Island and New York City are not ready yet, CBS2's Aundrea Cline-Thomas reported.

New York State had 488 new confirmed COVID-19 cases reported in the past 24 hours, along with 161 deaths related to coronavirus-related illness, the best daily metrics on record since March 19.

"That is just about where we started this horrific situation, before we went into the abyss of the COVID virus," said Gov. Andrew Cuomo during Monday's daily COVID-19 briefing. "We're on the other side of the mountain. It's an exciting new phase we're all anxious to get back to work."

Last week Cuomo outlined his region-by-region 7-part criteria needed to restart the economy across various parts of the state starting as early as Friday, May 15 when his PAUSE executive order on social restrictions expires.

Different parts of the state will reopen businesses at different rates, on different dates based on local officials decisions and Cuomo's baseline requirements.

"I think it's fair to say that June is when we're potentially going to be able to make some real changes if we can continue our progress," said Mayor Bill de Blasio about the city's return to business.

While the city has increased testing capacity and there's now a steady decline in hospitalizations and deaths, hospitals are still at capacity treating COVID patients, with too many new people being admitted.

"We have to guard against the boomerang and any point if the data started to change then that delays the moment where you could do any kind of loosening of restrictions," said the mayor.

DOWNLOAD: NY Forward Reopening Guide (pdf)

"Now we can intelligently turn towards reopening," said Cuomo. "Local regions, all across the state, should start to prepare for it and people as well. We're going to open when we are ready to open. What is 'ready to open' mean? First, the number of hospitalizations and the infection rates."

CORONAVIRUS: NY Health Dept. | NY Call 1-(888)-364-3065 | NYC Health Dept. | NYC Call 311, Text COVID to 692692 | NJ COVID-19 Info Hub | NJ Call 1-(800)-222-1222 or 211, Text NJCOVID to 898211 | CT Health Dept. | CT Call 211 | Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Those coronavirus rates have been slowly dropping in New York after hitting a plateau in the second week of April.

Since then, for a region to reopen, Cuomo's government has set criteria that it must:

  • According to CDC guidelines, a region has to have at least 14 days of decline in total hospitalizations and deaths on a three day rolling average
  • Regions with few COVID-19 cases can not have 15 new cases or five deaths on a three day rolling average
  • A region must have fewer than two new COVID-19 patients per 100,000 residents per day
  • Hospitals can't be filled to more than 70% capacity - including ICU beds - leaving 30% available in the event of a surge
  • All hospitals must have a 90 day stockpile of PPE
  • There must be 30 tests per 1,000 residents ready to go
  • Regions must have 30 contact tracers for every 100,000 residents, with additional tracers available based on the projected number of cases in the region
  • A risk/reward analysis of which businesses can reopen, with most essential businesses with lowest risk being prioritized
    • Phase 1: Construction, manufacturing and wholesale supply chain, select retail with curbside pickup
    • Phase 2: Professional services, finance and insurance, retail administrative support, real estate/rental leasing
    • Phase 3: Restaurants/food services, hotels/accommodations
    • Phase 4: Arts/entertainment/recreation/education
  • Businesses must adjust their practices to ensure a safe work environment and track cases
  • There will be a regional "control room" to monitor progress

"Some places are very close: Central New York has just one or two criteria that haven't been met yet, and you can do that with Long Island, New York City all across the state," said Cuomo. "When we reopen, we're talking about a phased reopening, that's what everyone basically is doing."

In Westchester County, Armonk Tennis Club has been closed since mid-March, but now has the green light to serve once again.

"I felt great for my staff," owner Tim Shea told CBS2's Alice Gainer on Monday.

Shea explained the new restrictions.

"We have 10 outdoor courts. We're really only going to open up five of them, so that there's a lot of distancing amongst players. It's only singles," Shea said.

The indoor courts and other areas of the club remain closed.

"You show up five minutes before, you go out on the court. You play, then have to leave. No hanging around the parking lot, no talking. That's what's very strange because we have a very social group of people," Shea said.

Other businesses that will be among the first to reopen include those that are more essential and pose a lower risk such as construction, manufacturing, retail curbside pickup and agriculture for forestry and fishing -- and drive-in movie theaters.

That plan does not include childcare, even though the governor closed schools for the rest of the year.

He said it's up to local leaders to figure out.

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