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ALBANY – At Sunday’s press conference, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo announced an executive order directing employers to provide a face covering or mask to essential workers who are directly interacting with the public.
Melissa DeRosa, Secretary to the Governor, said it’s up to the employers to provide the masks.
“You’re an essential worker, you should be protected. You shouldn’t have to go out and put yourself in unnecessary danger, and continue the spread of the virus,” DeRosa said.
Governor Cuomo announced the devastating news of 758 lives being lost from COVID-19 on Saturday. This marks the sixth straight day of more than 700 deaths from the virus. The death toll across New York state is now at 9,385, according to Cuomo.
On the bright side, the number of people being hospitalized continues to decline, and the amount of people being discharged from the hospital is on the rise.
According to Cuomo, the curve is really beginning to flatten in terms of the number of hospitalizations across New York State. The governor reminded everyone that New York’s curve is likely in a plateau right now.
According to Johns Hopkins University, as of Sunday there are 181,825 confirmed cases of COVID-19 across New York State.
The question of when to reopen businesses and schools resurfaced at Sunday’s press conference. Governor Cuomo re-iterated that the decision has to be made based on the facts, and Cuomo says there is not enough data to make the decision right now.
Although the governor did not offer a timetable, he did however have three keys to reopening:
• The opening of schools and businesses must be coordinated
• Rapid COVID-19 testing must be available
• Need federal help
Governor Cuomo said, “we want to reopen as soon as possible.”
The governor said the state is at a $10 billion to $15 billion deficit from the virus, and the CARES Act ignored state governments. Governor Cuomo said New York will need federal assistance to reopen.
At the press conference, Governor Cuomo called on the federal government to provide a total of $500 billion in aid to all states.
At Saturday’s press conference, Governor Cuomo said he wanted the reopening of schools and businesses to be coordinated with surrounding areas, and on Sunday he said he was meeting with the governors of New Jersey and Connecticut to discuss their next steps forward.
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