May 11, 2020 By Christian Murray
Mayor Bill de Blasio said that the city could see the easing of restrictions beginning next month.
The mayor said that with the spread of COVID-19 slowing, there is a chance that the city may allow the reopening of some nonessential businesses next month.
“June is when we are potentially going to be able to make some real changes, if we can continue our progress,” de Blasio said at his daily press briefing this morning.
“We’re going to always go by the data,” he added. “It’s been pretty good and pretty consistent. It’s not quite been what we need it to be, but definitely trending the right direction.”
De Blasio has used three metrics as a yardstick for when the restrictions can ease—the rate of hospitalizations, the number of people in critical care and the percentage of people who test positive. When each has dropped for 10 consecutive days and is below a set threshold the restrictions can ease.
All three measures have continued to trend downward, although some days they have ticked up.
The number of hospitalizations dropped to 55 on Saturday from 68 the day before, according to the latest NYC Health data. Meanwhile, the number of people in critical care dipped to 537 from 540 and the percentage of people who tested positive dropped to 13 percent from 17 percent.
“This is exactly the kind of day we want to see,” the mayor said. “Now, let’s say we can stretch a number of these days together.”
One Comment
Mr DiBlasio …
I am in construction and NOT allowed to work. YET. .. plumbers and electricians were never prohibited from working.
Home Depot and many construction retailers are open …. yet we CANNOT work …
WTF …. is this rational ????
Another thing …
IF masks WORK, WHY are business closed ?
IF masks don’t WORK, WHY are we FORCED to wear them ??
You can think about it. .. and get back to me