New Adjustments to NYS on PAUSE After announcing last week that the State would be shifting it’s focus from positive test rates to hospitalization rates, in an attempt to keep hospitals from being overrun by future COVID-19 surges, Governor Cuomo announced new metrics today that would place a region back into NYS on PAUSE protocols. Regions that reach critical hospital capacity will be designated as a Red Zone under New York's micro-cluster strategy. Specifically, following the implementation of the state's "surge [...]

Expanded Eligibility and Reopened Application Window for COVID Rent Relief Program Governor Cuomo today announced that he will be signing an Executive Order expanding eligibility for New York State's COVID Rent Relief Program and reopening its application window.  The Governor’s Office will be announcing additional details about these adjustments in the coming days. New COVID-19 Rapid Testing Sites Statewide New York State is partnering with Prescryptive Health to provide expanded COVID-19 testing capacity across New York State, particularly in areas where [...]

“Winter Plan” Laid Out Governor Andrew Cuomo held a press conference today to lay out a new winter plan to combat COVID-19 through five targeted strategies focused on mitigating the spread of the virus and bolstering New York State hospital preparedness. These five tenets include: Continue and Strengthen New York's Targeted Micro-Cluster Strategy while Managing Hospital Capacity to Enhance and Equalize Care;Increase and Balance Testing Resources and Availability;Keep Schools Open Safely;Prevent Viral Spread from Small Gatherings; andOperationalize an Equitable and Safe [...]

Bars and Restaurants Today Governor Cuomo continued his push for vigilance by local governments in enforcing the proper guidance for patrons and operators of all bars and restaurants when dealing with the State’s social distancing standards. Additionally the Governor announced that the New York State Police (NYSP) will lead a task force with the State Liquor Authority (SLA) to investigate and shut down establishments not complying with the proper safety standards. Governor Cuomo indicated that the NYSP and the SLA will [...]

New Guidance on Reopening Schools in New York State New York State today released new guidance and guiding principles for reopening schools in the State, available here.  According to the guidance, schools in a region may be permitted to reopen if that region is in Phase 4 of the New York Forward reopening process and if the region’s daily infection rate remains below 5 percent using a 14-day average. Schools will close if the regional infection rate rises above 9 percent, [...]

New York City Indoor Dining Postponed Governor Cuomo today announced that the inclusion of indoor dining as part of New York City's anticipated Phase 3 reopening on July 6th  will be postponed given that states across the country that previously reopened indoor dining are experiencing increases in COVID-19 cases.  The duration of the postponement will depend upon several factors, including local government enforcement of social distancing, as well as business and citizen compliance with social distancing.  The Governor also will look for the spread of COVID-19 [...]

Reopening  After review by the State Department of Health and international experts, Governor Cuomo announced that the Western New York region will enter into phase 4 tomorrow. As it stands currently the remainder of the regions are in the following regions: Phase 4 Central NY Finger Lakes Mohawk Valley North County Southern Tier Phase 3 Western NY (Phase 4 on 6/30/20) Capital Region Mid-Hudson Long Island Phase 2 New York City New York City Indoor Dining Today Governor Cuomo indicated that [...]