New York, New Jersey Lift Covid-19 Capacity Limits on Businesses
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
New York and New Jersey are lifting most capacity limits on businesses put in place last spring to stem the spread of Covid-19 as more people get vaccinated and infections continue to decline.
Capacity limits will end May 19 for New Jersey and New York retail stores, restaurants, gyms, amusement parks, salons, barber shops, offices, museums and theaters, including Broadway, state officials said Monday. Businesses will be limited only by social-distancing measures, which require patrons and parties to be kept 6 feet apart.
Both states are keeping their indoor mask mandates.
Connecticut previously ended many capacity restrictions and announced in April that it is ending all restrictions on businesses beginning May 19, except for indoor masking requirements.
These efforts represented a major milestone for New York, said Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Rising vaccination rates coupled with falling rates of infections and hospitalizations made this moment possible, he said.
“It is irrefutable, when you look at the numbers, that New Yorkers have made tremendous progress,” Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, said at a news conference. “All the arrows are pointing in the right direction, have been for a while.”
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat, said last week that he wanted to remove capacity limits on businesses in the city by July 1 . The new statewide measures will speed up that timeline.
New York’s seven-day average for its positivity rate fell to 1.8% on Sunday, a 50% decline since last month and the lowest it has been since early November, Mr. Cuomo said. There were 2,839 people hospitalized in New York with Covid-19 on Sunday, the fewest since late November, he said.
More than nine million people have had at least one vaccine shot in New York and seven million have been fully vaccinated, Mr. Cuomo said.
New York and New Jersey will also be raising the limit on indoor social gatherings in private homes to 50 people beginning May 19. Indoor capacity for large venues, like for sporting events, can also increase capacity to 30% on May 19.
“We feel confident that we can do this safely because our numbers have trended decisively in the right direction over the past three weeks,” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, Democrat, said at a separate news conference.
New Jersey recorded 1,077 new Covid-19 cases Sunday, down 75% from one month ago. There were 1,424 people hospitalized with Covid-19 in the state, a 35% decline from a month earlier.
New Jersey has administered more than seven million vaccine shots, and more than 3.25 million residents are now fully vaccinated.
Meantime, in New York City, some 80,000 city employees returned to the office on Monday to resume in-person work. Mr. de Blasio said the city workers will be subject to numerous health screenings and will continue to practice social distancing and masking to reduce the chance of spreading Covid-19.
“We learned from our schools how to do things right, and we are doing the same approach in our offices, and we are confident it’s going to work,” Mr. De Blasio, a Democrat, said at a news conference. “We need this. This is a part of our recovery.”
Henry Garrido, executive director of District Council 37, New York City’s largest public employee union, said the city’s reopening approach has been inconsistent.
“Some agencies are bringing everyone back every day, others once a week,” Mr. Garrido said in a statement. “It does not make sense.”
Mr. de Blasio defended the city’s actions and said the city has been careful and consultative in its approach to reopening offices.
Tags
Who is online
430 visitors
For those still locked down, the time has come.
Who is still locked down?
According to the article here, NY, NJ and Conn still have capacity limits on business.
Capacity limits yes, lock downs no. I live in NYS
There are states in lockdown. Most notably CA:
I don't know how capacity limits equate to lockdowns, do you?
So all of California is in lockdown? No.
NYS is NOT on lockdown.
Michigan sucks too.
It has capacity limits on business.
But not on lockdown.
That doesn't make them 'in lockdown'
Who are you arguing with?
Why are you saying places are in lockdown when they aren't?
Once again...capacity limits yes, lockdown NO. There is a difference. No matter how many times you post this it doesn't change the facts
Difference posted in Post 1. Who are you arguing with?
We are far from lock down. Because our infections, hospitalizations, and deaths are down, we are getting ready to enter the yellow tier which is the least restrictive tier. There will still be restrictions but they are needed to keep out numbers down.
No states are in lockdown.
Who's arguing?
Why do you continue to say lockdown when it's capacity limits being lessened?
So no one is 'still locked down' and never were then.
No one in NYS
In Maryland they're lifting some capacity limits too. Still required to mask and social distance indoors. No lockdowns here, or anywhere.
“It is irrefutable, when you look at the numbers, that New Yorkers have made tremendous progress,” Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, said at a news conference. “All the arrows are pointing in the right direction, have been for a while.”
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat, said last week that he wanted to remove capacity limits on businesses in the city by July 1 . The new statewide measures will speed up that timeline."
“We learned from our schools how to do things right, and we are doing the same approach in our offices, and we are confident it’s going to work,” Mr. De Blasio, a Democrat, said at a news conference. “We need this. This is a part of our recovery.”
Why is this emphasis being placed on Mayor de Blasio being a Democrat, and Cuomo? Because we know they'll do the right thing? As opposed to any republican/gop?
Here's one for the books:
The fully vaccinated Joe Biden, who wears a mask when he is outdoors or all alone takes it off when with the elderly (Jimmy Carter & wife)
Carter Library releases photo from Biden’s and Carter’s visit last week in Plains, GA
The Carters are fully vaccinated also. Indoors fully vaccinated people don't have to wear masks.
All four have been vaccinated, so your bs photo is just a propaganda nothing burger.
Yup, it's a great big nothingberder.
So why is he wearing the mask outdoors?
They are both vaccinated and are socially distant all of which is within the CDC guidelines.
Correct! I'm glad Joe Biden finally got it!
The concept of leadership by example is lost on you Vic.
The concept of leadership to some appears to be 'every man/woman for himself/herself!'
New York masked up, observed the reccomended protocols, kept their distances and lined up to get vaccinated in record numbers. This is the payoff...
New York leaders faced an unanticipated crisis as the new coronavirus overwhelmed the nation’s largest city. Their response was marred by missed warning signs and policies that many health-care workers say put residents at greater risk and led to unnecessary deaths.
In the first few days of March, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio assured New Yorkers things were under control. On March 2, Mr. de Blasio tweeted that people should go see a movie .
Only after the disease had gripped the city’s low-income neighborhoods in early March did Gov. Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio mobilize public and private hospitals to create more beds and intensive-care units . The hasty expansion that ensued, led by New York government leaders and hospital administrators, produced mistakes that helped worsen the crisis, health-care workers say.
The virus has hit New York harder than any other state, cutting through its densely populated urban neighborhoods and devastating the economy. New York state’s death toll of 30,575 accounted for 7% of the world’s deaths and 27% of American deaths as of June 11, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
The Wall Street Journal talked to nearly 90 front-line doctors, nurses, health-care workers, hospital administrators and government officials, and reviewed emails, legal documents and memos, to analyze what went wrong. Among the missteps they identify:
NY and NJ are trending down. Why the continued disparagement of NY? Why go back to last March - at the very beginning of the pandemic (well three months after everyone learned the truth of the pandemic and people became aware of the dangers)?
Stop looking to the past and move forward!
NY was also the first to be hit with the virus. We knew nothing about the virus back then, in the most densely populated city in the US with huge international airport hubs. Doctors struggled to find treatments that were effective. I am not going to say that there were no missteps, but that would have been true anywhere with a population like ours... I give you London, Italy, India...
The major difference, we bought the numbers down in record time and they remained down.
btw... on March 2 do you know how many cases were in NYC? The answer is 1. Would you encourage a city to panic over 1 cases? I don't like De Blasio, but I'm sorry Vic, no one would have known what we were heading into.
So I would have to disagree with this article. Nowhere does it say that it took less than 30 days for NY to jump into action.
Here is the actual timeline of events:
MARCH 1 - First coronavirus case in NY
1 total cases, 0 total deaths in New York
The first patient tests positive for coronavirus in New York after traveling abroad in Iran
March 3
2 total cases, 0 total deaths in New York
Cuomo signs a $40 million emergency management authorization for New York’s coronavirus response, giving him broad powers to issue directives during the pandemic.
SUNY schools begin bringing home study abroad students in countries with high rates of coronavirus.
March 4
11 total cases, 0 total deaths in New York
Study abroad programs at SUNY and CUNY schools to China, Italy and other impacted counties are canceled.
March 5
22 total cases, 0 total deaths in New York
Cuomo activates a statewide Emergency Operation Center in Albany, as well as two Emergency Operations Center outposts in Westchester County.
March 6
44 total cases, 0 total deaths in New York
Cuomo changes regulations so traveler insurers can sell insurance that lets people cancel for any reason.
MARCH 7 - State of Emergency declared
76 total cases, 0 total deaths in New York
In his first official COVID-19-related executive order, Gov. Andrew Cuomo declares a State of Emergency. This declaration allows, among other things, expedited procurement of essential hygiene, testing and medical supplies and expands the field of professionals permitted to conduct testing.
March 11
216 total cases, 0 total deaths in New York
Cuomo announces that SUNY and CUNY institutions will begin distance learning for the remainder of the semester.
The St. Patrick’s Day Parade in NYC postponed.
March 12
325 total cases, 0 total deaths in New York
Cuomo announces that events with more than 500 attendees must be cancelled or postponed, and Broadway theaters shut down .
Visitors, except those deemed medically necessary, are banned at nursing homes in New York.
The East Coast’s first drive through testing facility is ready to open in New Rochelle.
March 18
2,382 total cases, 16 total deaths in New York
Cuomo announces that the 1,000-bed USNS Comfort will be deployed to New York harbor to provide additional hospital capacity.
Pennsylvania joins the NY-NJ-CT coalition, and all four states order the closure of indoor shopping malls, amusement parks and bowling alleys .
Read the order »
Cuomo signs a bill guaranteeing paid leave to New Yorkers under mandatory or precautionary coronavirus quarantine.
MARCH 20 - New York State on PAUSE
It was March 18th, literally 18 days after the 1st case that additional hospital beds were asked for, with only 16 deaths. They were city wide and in Westchester. So the WSJ, has an agenda when they say that it was only after it affected low income neighborhoods since that is a total lie. We were in lockdown on March 20th. I'm sorry, but no one could have done better, given how little we knew about the disease.
Of course there was significantly more than one case on March 1 in NYC and in other areas across the country.
What in the world are you talking about? None of that is true. You realize NY reported it's highest daily case count in excess of 20,000 people at the end of January? All told, NY suffered 2,708 deaths per million residents trailing only NJ.
Are you on Cuomo's payroll? Even Chris Cuomo stopped trying to make this narrative a thing.
This is too funny.
Provide the proof that disputes her claims Sean.
Do you always have to get personal? Insult?
To those who like to live in the past obviously.
We know that NOW. Back then, no one knew that.
What are you talking about Sean? What year? Not 2020. Go look at JHU.
You are moving goalposts. The question was not how many deaths we suffered, but how it was handled in the beginning. And for the record, here is the deaths rates across the country:
So for the first state hit, we are the second in death rates, but Mass, RI and Mississippi are barely behind us and they had a head start after us to get things under control.
And please learn how not to be obnoxious when responding to a post. I'm really getting sick of it.
Putting covid patients in senior homes and then lying about the effects for political reasons is pretty much the definition of handling it poorly. It's part of the reason deaths are so high in NY.
. And for the record, here is the deaths rates across the country:\
Yes. As I said, NY is second to NJ. Thank you for demonstrating my point.
2021. You claimed, that cases remained down after they were "brought down in record time." That is objectively false.
So for the first state hi
Not really. A number of other states had their first wave at that time. NY and NJ just had it the worst.
Thanks for the truth Perrie! It's quite refreshing here.
Florida did the same thing, and DeSantis has still not released their numbers. btw... it was not a good idea.
Amazing how you totally ignored Mass, and Mississippi, whose numbers are very close to NY and NJ, but are not international hubs, don't have the population density, and knew what was coming. So you missed my point totally.
Is it? Check out this link:
We had a small bump up in April, that is now back down. So I have no clue what you are looking at.
btw... to keep track of which states are trending which way, you might want to check this out:
And no, it isn't NY.
What? DeSantis put infected people into nursing homes? Where did you see that?
One thing I am happy about - as of the 19th of this month "the tri-state area" will be opened completely for business.