Gov. Andrew Cuomo today continued to offer thoughts on how a phased-in economic re-opening will look in New York, telling businesses to start thinking about how they can safely resume operations when the current "PAUSE" period comes to an end on May 15.
Cuomo reiterated that some regions of the state will be allowed to start the re-opening process, while others will likely see the PAUSE restrictions extended. He did not offer specifics, though it's clear that he's speaking of areas where the infection rate has been relatively low (as opposed to New York City, which has been the epicenter of the national outbreak).
The governor said businesses should start thinking about how they could re-open while still observing social distancing and incorporating public health protocols such as taking the temperatures of people coming in the door and monitoring workers.
"Be smart," Cuomo said. "We want to reopen. Well, have you thought through reopening? We have a couple of weeks. Start thinking through what it means to reopen. You know your business. I don’t know your business."
"...I don't want to just do re-opening," the governor continued. "We have to use this moment to reimagine and be smart and grow...sometimes it takes a crisis to wake people up and it takes a crisis to change the body politic to actually accept change, because change is hard to make."
Cuomo also stressed a regional approach to re-opening, and said his discussions with the leaders of neighboring states are ongoing. He said he worries about - and wants to avoid - the unique re-opening "nuisance attractions" - things like beaches or other sites that might draw visitors from far away and raise the potential for virus transmission.