It is no secret that New York City was the epicenter of the Covid-19 pandemic back in March of 2020. Since then New York has lost over 32 thousand residents to covid-19. There may be a positive sign of change coming with over 3 million people in New York City being fully vaccinated.
New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio told reporters Thursday morning that he wants the city to be fully opened by July 1st. This means restaurants, gyms, movie theaters, entertainment buildings all being allowed to open at 100% capacity. The only exception is Broadway, with plans of opening in September 2021.
There is also some good news on the school system in New York City. The mayor said schools will be at “full strength” in the fall. Many schools across the state are starting to open up for hybrid learning and some are even open full time. New York City has gotten a lot of attention in the past year of how they will open up and the slow process of them opening up.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said in a press conference Wednesday that he would like to see New York City open before the July 1st date. The Governor is lifting a curfew in places like restaurants state wide on May 31st. The Governor also announced Wednesday that New York City can increase restaurant capacity to 75%, up from the 50% that was in place for most of the winter
The July 1st deadline is not a set in stone deadline, as it was revealed that the Mayor and the Governor have not spoken in regards to the date of reopening. Governor Andrew Cuomo ultimately has the power to decide if the New York City july 1st reopening is going to happen or if there needs to be an adjustment.
While the current Mayor Bill De Blasio is working to get the city reopened, the continuation of this reopening will be on the newly elected mayor. According to the polls, former 2020 presidential. candidate, Andrew Yang, is the front-runner for the position, as he has deemed the pandemic as his main priority. Voters in New York City say getting small businesses and restaurants reopened should be the main concern of the current and future mayor.
Since we are still in the early stages of the state reopening at full capacity, there are still many questions up in the air. We hope to start hearing more information in the upcoming days and weeks as vaccination rates continue to rise and positive test results decrease.
