AMID ONGOING COVID-19 PANDEMIC, GOVERNOR CUOMO ANNOUNCES THREE REGIONS OF NEW YORK STATE READY TO BEGIN REOPENING MAY 15TH

Finger Lakes, Southern Tier & Mohawk Valley Regions Have Met the 7 Metrics Required to Begin Phase 1 of Reopening Plan, Which Includes Construction, Manufacturing, Retail for Curbside Pickup, & Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing

The North Country and Central NY Close to Meeting All Metrics

Governor Cuomo Releases the "NY Forward Reopening" Plan, Available Here

Certain Low-Risk Business and Recreational Activities --including Landscaping, Gardening, Tennis & Drive-In-Movie Theaters -- Will Reopen Statewide on May 15th

Launches Regional Monitoring Dashboard -- Available Here

Announces Members of Regional Control Rooms to Monitor Regional Metrics During Reopening Process

Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that as of today, the Finger Lakes, Southern Tier and Mohawk Valley Regions have met all seven metrics required to begin phase one of the state's regional phased reopening plan when NYS on PAUSE orders expire on May 15th. If the trend continues, starting on May 15th, these three regions can begin opening businesses for phase one, which includes construction; manufacturing and wholesale supply chain; retail for curbside pickup and drop-off or in-store pickup; and agriculture, forestry and fishing. The North Country and Central NY regions have met 6 of the 7 metrics and could be ready at the end of the week. A guide to the state's "NY Forward Reopening" Plan is available here. The Governor also launched the state's regional monitoring dashboard, which is available here.

The Governor also announced that certain low-risk business and recreational activities will be ready to reopen statewide on May 15th, including landscaping and gardening; outdoor, low-risk recreational activities such as tennis; and drive-in movie theaters.

"We are starting a new chapter in the fight against this virus - we've worked together as a state to flatten the curve and the decline has finally reached a point where it is just about where we started this journey, so now we can turn to reopening," Governor Cuomo said. "As we approach May 15, we have put regional control rooms in place, which are made up of the top government officials and academic and healthcare professionals in that region, to watch the situation in each region develop and increase or decrease the activity and speed of reopening based on the  metrics and guidelines. These control rooms are critical because we just made it over the mountain and nobody wants to go back to the other side now."

Governor Cuomo also announced the members of the regional control rooms that will monitor regional metrics during the reopening process. These regional control rooms will monitor the hospitalization rate, death rate, number of new hospitalizations, hospital bed capacity, ICU bed capacity, testing and contact tracing within its region during reopening and alert the state if the region's metrics no longer meet the reopening guidelines and adjust the reopening plan for that region accordingly. Members of each regional control room are available here.

Finally, the Governor confirmed 1,660 additional cases of novel coronavirus, bringing the statewide total to 337,055 confirmed cases in New York State. Of the 337,055 total individuals who tested positive for the virus, the geographic breakdown is as follows: