Gov. Cuomo Unveils 3-Zone Lockdown Plan To Respond To COVID Clusters
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Gov. Andrew Cuomo unveiled a complicated three zone lockdown plan Tuesday to deal with the COVID clusters, and slammed Mayor Bill de Blasio, saying it wouldn't be necessary if the city had enforced the law.
It was the second day of Cuomo criticizing de Blasio for having an ineffective plan to cope with the clusters, and so he presented a new plan that doesn't depend on zip codes, but draws maps with different levels of rules.
For Cuomo, it's all about limiting mass gatherings.
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Video, said to be taken at a concert in Fallsburg on Monday night, shows few masks and no social distancing. As CBS2's Marcia Kramer reported, the video shows how hard it may be for New York City to get a handle on the clusters.
There are nine hot zone zip codes and 13 on a watch list.
"A law doesn't work if you're too incompetent or too politically frightened to enforce it," Cuomo said.
The governor said he drew up a plan of concentric circles, not zip codes. If you're in a red circle, the highest level of infection, houses of worship can have a maximum of 10 people. Mass gatherings are prohibited. Only essential businesses can remain open. Restaurants are limited to take out, and schools are closed.
The limits are slightly relaxed in what he calls the orange and yellow zones.
The governor slammed the mayor for putting out a plan that he thought was unworkable, and again talked about the city's lack of enforcement.
"It's not about the rules, it's about enforcement," Cuomo said.
"Local governments said they could get this under control. This was a last resort," said Melissa DeRosa, the governor's top aide. "In New York City, the first rules weren't enforced."
The mayor and governor, who have clashed on many, many issues, continue to be miles apart on mask enforcement. Cuomo wants those not wearing masks to get summonses. De Blasio would rather give them a mask and tell them to wear it.
"I wonder if you think that more fines for not mask wearing is something that you should be doing? You should step up enforcement?" Kramer asked the mayor.
"What I think is clear here is this is a problem beyond the normal enforcement approach. This is a problem that requires larger restrictions for the community," de Blasio said.
Police Commissioner Dermot Shea had a two-word answer when he was asked whether cops would be instructed to be tougher.
"Absolutely not," he said.
Shea seemed miffed that for days Gov. Cuomo has used his press conferences to rage about the lack of enforcement in New York City. He offered what might be the ultimate put down.
"I stopped watching those press conferences a long time ago," Shea said.
The governor demanded that New York City provide 400 cops for a state enforcement unit. When Kramer asked the mayor Tuesday morning about whether he'd provide cops, he dodged the question, and there was no immediate response from his press secretary.
They're increasing the fines for mass gatherings to $15,000.
On Tuesday night, a protest was held in Borough Park with some people wearing masks and some not, CBS2's Alice Gainer reported.
"We are doing a civil disobedience protest and we're going to start doing this every day," one demonstrator said.
NYPD Community Affairs was on scene as the group protested against any form of a shutdown in the area.
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