On Thursday, as confirmed cases of Covid-19 neared 222,300 and deaths across the state climbed above 12,000, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo extended the New York State on PAUSE executive order to May 15. Schools and nonessential businesses will remain closed and social distancing restrictions will remain in place.
"I know this is hard," Governor Cuomo said on Twitter on Thursday. "I wish I could say this will be over soon, but I can't. We must make decisions based on the science and the data. Human lives are at stake."
A mandatory mask-wearing order for the general public, including when using public transportation and when social distancing is not possible, will go into effect on Friday at 8 p.m. Previously, the governor required masks for essential workers while they are on the job, and said businesses must provide those employees with masks at their own cost.
Across the state hospitalizations continue to come in at or more than 2,000 per day, Governor Cuomo said Friday, though the overall trend of new hospital admissions is now curving downward. He called the virus "a beast," but said "we feel we can control the beast."
"This is a credit to all New Yorkers, all Americans. They flattened the curve. No government agency, no public health expert. People's actions flattened the curve," he said.
Governor Cuomo recognized the current situation is unsustainable, and said officials are developing plans to roll out an informed, measured reopening of the economy.
"Society can't handle it, personally or economically," he said.
He called for "a fully synchronized, automated process" of widespread testing for Covid-19 because it will enable officials to detect a public health turning point and signal that a slow phasing-in of "the new normal" can begin.
To that end, Governor Cuomo issued an executive order Friday that mandates private laboratories to "step up and work together" to accelerate the testing.