Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that the New York state mandates on COVID-19 for commercial and social settings will be lifted effective immediately. Cuomo states “we have hit 70% vaccination,” and continued to press that life can begin to return to how it used to be. The state celebrated this moment with a firework display over the New York Harbor; the 70% of vaccinated people mentioned is only in regards to adults who have received at least their first vaccine.
Federal guidelines including schools, health care and mass transit are still under restriction, but social gatherings, capacity restrictions, social distancing, health screenings, cleaning and disinfection protocols, and contact information for tracking have been removed. Businesses are still allowed to require health precaution on their premises
Sports and recreation, construction and manufacturing, trade, child care, camps, food service, offices, amusement and family entertainment, gyms, and movie theatres are some of the settings included in commercial and social settings.
The 600,000 lives lost since the onset of the coronavirus is still a heavy reminder of the virus’ toll. With this, Cuomo decided to move forward and lift restrictions during his 45-minute speech announcing the lifted restrictions. Cuomo believes that lifting these restrictions, especially for businesses, will incentivize people to get vaccinated.
New York State will still be following the federal mask mandate for unvaccinated individuals as well.
References:
https://abc7ny.com/ny-covid-vaccine-fireworks-testing/10792105/
