The Road to Re-opening New York State

On Monday night, May 4, 2020, Governor Cuomo announced his plan to re-open New York State on PAUSE expires on May 15th. The plan is meant to “determine which regions allow what sectors to reopen and when.” 

First, each region must satisfy seven specific criteria that illustrate the region’s current COVID-19 status (the governor’s office is providing an updated chart on where regions stand):

1. Net hospitalizations for COVID-19 cases must either show a continuous 14-day decline or total no more than 15 new hospitalizations a day on average over three days.
2. A 14-day decline in virus-related hospital deaths, or fewer than give a day, averaged over three days.
3. A three-day rate of new hospitalizations below two per 100,000 residents a day.
4. A hospital-bed vacancy rate of at least 30 percent.
5. An availability rate of at least 30 percent for intensive care units.
6.   A weekly average of 30 virus tests per 1,000 residents a month.
7. 30 working contact tracers per 100,000 residents.

Once regions meet these criteria, then businesses in each region can re-open. Governor Cuomo prioritized some industries for re-opening, and explained that the re-opening of businesses in each phase will proceed with caution.

• Phase One: construction; manufacturing and wholesale supply chain; select retail using curbside pickup only
• Phase Two: professional services; finance and insurance; retail; administrative support; real estate and rental leasing
• Phase Three: restaurants and food service; hotels and accommodations
• Phase Four: arts, entertainment and recreation; education

When reopening, Governor Cuomo mandated in the guidelines that each “business and industry must have a plan to protect workers and consumers.” The outlined business precautions include:

• Adjust workplace hours and shift design to reduce density in the workplace
• Enact social distancing protocols
• Restrict non-essential travel for employees
• Require all employees and customers to wear masks if in frequent contact with others
• Enact a continuous health screening process for individuals to enter the work process
• Continue tracing, tracking, and reporting of cases
• Develop liability processes

 With the entire country re-opening, some industries are already looking ahead and taking the steps to provide industry-specific guidelines. A nationwide construction union released standards for construction sites to follow – construction is one of the industries in Phase One. A nationwide hotel association also released health and safety standards for hotels to follow, though hotels and accommodations will not be re-opening until Phase Three. New York City, however, will likely be one of the last areas to reopen.

Written by Law Clerk Rafita Ahlam.