In an executive order signed late Thursday, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo extended the stay-at-home Pause order through May 28 for regions of New York State — including Long Island — that have not been cleared to begin resuming business activity.
The governor also said state beaches will open on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend as part of an agreement with New Jersey, Connecticut, and Delaware, with many restrictions in place, and that local municipalities can make decisions on their own regarding their own beaches. Municipalities must make these decisions by Wednesday, May 20, and inform the state.
State restrictions include no food and beverage concessions; closing gathering areas like picnic tables, playgrounds, and pavilions; prohibiting activities like volleyball and football, and limiting capacity to no more than 50 percent.
"If they choose to open, they must adopt the state's requirements at a minimum," Governor Cuomo said in daily briefing on Friday. "The chief executive can decide to do that. If they want to impose additional requirements above and beyond state requirements, they are free to do that."
After briefly meeting five of the seven reopening metrics earlier this week, Long Island slid back to four on Friday, though some "low risk" businesses here will be allowed to resume. Suffolk County showed 41,920 cases of Covid-19 as of 11:30 a.m. Friday, with 267 cases in East Hampton and 939 in Southampton.
Five of the 10 distinct geographical regions in the state are allowed to proceed into the first phase of reopening. "They are the regions that meet the numerical criteria," Governor Cuomo said Friday. "There's no politics to this judgment. . . . It's all on the numbers."
Despite the extension of the Pause order, he said that as soon as another region meets the reopening metrics, it can move into phase one. The regional "control room" committees will meet daily, he said, to monitor developments.
"Watch what happens to the infection rate, testing rate, hospitalization rate," Governor Cuomo said. "If those start to move, slow down on the activity level."
"How this goes is up to all of us," he later continued. " 'Stone to stone across the morass,' as my father used to say. . . . Find a stone, find firm footing, and step onto that stone."