On Thursday, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo said that the NYC shutdown will extend until May 15 even with fewer coronavirus deaths recorded these past few days.
Mr Cuomo is being cautious in regard to opening too early as this may have a negative impact on New York City if the timing is not right.
Other neighboring states will be ending the lockdown on May 1, but New York is willing to extend two more weeks as extra precautionary measures.
New York has experienced the most deaths in the US and even used Hart Island as a mass grave to hold the excess bodies the city morgue cannot handle.
Despite the dire numbers registered for cases and deaths caused by the coronavirus, he cited progress but glumly said it will take a while to get things back to normal. He added that the rate of infection is not good enough, it should be less to fully warrant an opening and remove restrictions by April 29.
Is NYC finally ready to open its doors?
Despite plans to reopen America, there are snags which can delay plans. The mayor's office has been busy, but not in the way everyone expects.
One very unencouraging sign that everything will not go accordingly is when the spokeswoman for Mayor Bill de Blasio said, "New York City was cancelling all permitted events for May."
Events that were cancelled are the BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn concerts in Prospect Park, SummerStage concerts in Central Park and the Brooklyn Half Marathon. The mayor's rep also said the decision about events in June was under discussion, with the decision expected later in the week.
Governor Cuomo said that the New York pause worked, he made this remark of the lockdown in Albany press briefing. He added, "That's how we control the beast."
A safe bet would be if the fatalities taper off and the curve flattens, but it is not projected when that will be attained.
The total numbers as indicated in the Thursday briefing
Significant reasons for the extension of the shutdown comes at the heels when 606 New Yorkers contracted coronavirus within a 24-hour period ending on midnight Thursday.
According to Cuomo, it is still a high death rate that will not be optimum when everything opens. On Thursday, the death toll is at 12,192 as it stands.
Cuomo added the average 3-day number of hospitalized positive cases have dropped to 2% which is the second straight decline for New York.
A total number of intubated patients are lower for a 5th day in the last six. When this treatment is given, patients are 50/50 already and death can just happen anytime. Next of kin are usually contacted at this point.
An improvement for ICU patients
Governor Cuomo orders all in NYC to wear masks when out in public to prevent further spread of the highly-communicable disease.
Wearing a face mask will be requisite on mass transit, and for drivers/passengers of vehicles for hire too. This includes masks to be work by children from 2 and older. This order will roll out on Friday at 8 p.m.
About 100 ventilators will be sent to New Jersey, where a sharp rise in cases is happening. With this alarming surge, New York is extending shutdown to May 15 as a precautionary measure.
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