New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Sunday that the state will take steps toward reopening this week even as the battle against the coronavirus continues.
Though daily deaths in the state went above 100 again on Saturday, the overall numbers in the coronavirus battle are trending in the right direction, he said during a daily briefing held at Jones Beach.
“We’re decidedly in the reopening phase,” he said.
Cuomo said the Mid-Hudson region is on track to reopen Tuesday and Long Island on Wednesday, including bus and rail service.
“We have to get the number of deaths down on Long Island and we have to get the number of tracers up, but we’re doing that,” Cuomo said.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority will clean and disinfect Long Island Railroad trains every day and more train cars will be added so people can space out and socially distance, Cuomo said.
Campgrounds will be able to reopen on Monday and veterinarians on Tuesday, he said.
Professional sports teams can begin training camps while observing proper protocols, he said, and if the athletes have to play without spectators, “do it, do it.” Having sports back would feel like “a return to normalcy,” he said.
‘The overall line is still good’
There were 109 Covid-19 deaths reported across New York State on Saturday, Cuomo said, up from 84 on Friday. He called those deaths “terrible” news and expressed sympathy to the families of those people.
The governor noted Saturday reporting a death count below 100 was a personal milestone he was looking forward to.
Intubations and hospitalizations are down, Cuomo said. New cases are up a little bit on the rolling average but “the overall line is still good,” he said.
The state of New York saw an additional 1,589 Covid-19 cases bringing the statewide total to 361,515, a news release said.
Former Google CEO to lead commission
Cuomo announced that Eric Schmidt, former CEO and chairman of Google, will chair a 15-member blue-ribbon commission focused on improving telehealth and broadband access.
The governor said such a commission is necessary because the economy will not bounce back without help from the government.
“We’ll need to stimulate that economy and government has a role in that,” he said, calling for construction of new airports, more telemedicine and a modernized health care system.
Cuomo said state residents can help the reopening by wearing personal protective equipment.
“Next week is a function of what we do today,” he said. “You tell me how people act today, I will tell you the infection rate three days from today. So you want to open faster, be smart and we will just calibrate it to the infection spread.”