Long Island, let Phase One begin! That’s the word from Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, who said our region is ready to start the prescribed reopening process on Wednesday.
Under Phase One, construction and manufacturing may resume, along with curbside retail. The latter should be a big help to our Island’s small retail businesses as they work to recover from the long shutdown.
Meantime, health officials will monitor data for signs of any re-emergence of the novel coronavirus.
Open smart
New York City is the only region not yet ready to reopen, he said. The mid-Hudson region began Tuesday, joining upstate areas already in Phase One.
“We’re going to turn the page on COVID-19,” he said during a briefing held at the New York Stock Exchange, where he rang the opening bell.
“We’re going to start focusing on reopening, and how we reopen, and how smart we are in reopening — because that’s the whole issue,” he said.
The Stock Exchange, for example, “didn’t reopen the way it was, it reopened smarter than before. Fewer people, wearing masks, new precautions that the Stock Exchange incorporated not because government said that they had to, but because they wanted to be smart … so they’re doing it in a way that keeps people safe.”
The news comes as New York reported the lowest one-day report of COVID-19 deaths, 73, since the emergency began.
“In this absurd new reality, that is good news,” he said. “Any other time and place when we lose 73 New Yorkers it’s tragic. It’s tragic now, but relative to where we have been — we’re on the other side of the curve now — that is the lowest number that we have had.”
Cuomo said one of the biggest tasks ahead for New Yorkers is to make wearing masks “part of who we are and what we do literally every day.”
“It makes a real difference,” he said.
Supercharge reopening
The governor also said New York would “supercharge” its reopening by focusing resources on capital projects already underway, taking advantage of a slowdown in transportation to get work done while traffic on roads, rails and runways is light.
“We want that economy to come roaring back,” he said. ” And that’s not going to happen just by wishing it to be so.”
Among the projects under consideration:
- Empire Station (Penn Station replacement)
- LaGuardia Airport renovation/expansion
- Second Avenue subway extension to 125th Street
- Hudson Tunnels that carry Amtrak and other rail traffic
And, Cuomo said, he was meeting President Trump Wednesday in Washington to advocate for more federal funds for infrastructure repair and improvement.
“If there’s ever a time to actually take on this overdue need of major infrastructure construction, now is the time,” he said. “There is no better time to build than right now.”
