Gov. Andrew Cuomo began to sketch out on Sunday what a slow, gradual, and cautious reopening of New York state will look like after months of a pandemic-driven shutdown. It will start upstate, in the regions less hard hit by the coronavirus, and only where there have been 14 days of decline in hospitalizations.
New York is under a sweeping stay-home order until at least May 15. After that, in the selected regions, parts of the construction and manufacturing industries would be the first to reopen. Then will come at least two weeks to see how that goes — watching for signs of a resurgence — before a second phase that would allow some businesses to reopen based on how essential they are and how capable they are of maintaining social distancing.
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In New York City, not so much. The city and its suburbs, the epicenter of the deadly outbreak, are expected to remain closed much longer than upstate regions. “Downstate New York is going to be more complicated,” Cuomo said.
And in the city, Mayor Bill de Blasio on Sunday announced ten new panels to work on reopening plans, with a fair recovery task force asked to deliver a preliminary report by June 1. There’s also a racial disparity task force helmed by First Lady Chirlane McCray, despite the criticism she has taken for her management of the ThriveNYC mental health program.
One early test will come with the resumption of elective surgeries, with upstate hospitals will be allowed to perform beginning Tuesday. The pent up demand in New York City for everything from knee replacements to breast cancer surgery could trigger a northern migration of city residents, carrying with them more chances to spread the virus.
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WHERE’S ANDREW? In Albany with no announced public events.
WHERE’S BILL? Hosting a press conference and appearing on NY1’s Inside City Hall.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “I can’t do this anymore.” — A slide in Gov. Cuomo’s Saturday briefing, summing up the general sentiment
“A FEELING OF SADNESS shot through with frayed nerves could be felt in conversations in and around the city as the coronavirus outbreak in the world’s epicenter dragged toward its sixth week, its end still too far off to see. ‘This is the week where I feel like I have accepted this, and given up,” Euna Chi of Brooklyn wrote in an email. ‘My daily commute to the couch feels “normal.”’ The journey that began in March with an us-against-it unity, with homemade masks and do-it-yourself haircuts and Zoom happy hours, has turned into a grim slog for many. It felt as if the city had cautiously approached a promising bend in the road, a new page on the calendar, only to find nothing, and beyond that, ever more of the same.” New York Times’ Michael Wilson
“IT HAS BEEN hours since the 71-year-old man in Room 3 of the intensive care unit succumbed to Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. His body has been cleaned, packed in an orange bag and covered in a white sheet, but the overextended transport team from the morgue has yet to arrive. The nurses on duty have too many other worries. University Hospital of Brooklyn, in the heart of the city hit hardest by a world-altering pandemic, can seem like it is falling apart… Every hospital in New York has struggled to cope with the pandemic, but the outbreak has laid bare the deep disparities in the city’s health care system. The virus is killing black and Latino New Yorkers at about twice the rate of white residents, and hospitals serving the sickest patients often work with the fewest resources.” New York Times’ Michael Schwirtz
“OFFICIALLY, THE NOVEL coronavirus arrived in New York City on March 1 with a 39-year-old Manhattanite returning from Iran. But given that testing was not widely available before that first confirmed case was reported, it’s hard to tell exactly when the outbreak in New York began — or how far it spread before it was detected. One possible answer comes from researchers modeling the international spread of the disease at Northeastern University. According to estimates they released Thursday, 10,700 New Yorkers had already been infected with COVID-19 by the time the city’s first case was reported.” Gothamist’s Caroline Lewis
— “The initial coronavirus outbreaks in New York City emerged at roughly the same time as those in Seattle. But the cities’ experiences with the disease have markedly differed. By the second week of April, Washington State had roughly one recorded fatality per fourteen thousand residents. New York’s rate of death was nearly six times higher. … It’s also true, however, that the cities’ leaders acted and communicated very differently in the early stages of the pandemic … The city’s epidemiologists were horrified by the comforting messages that de Blasio and Cuomo kept giving.” Charles Duhigg in The New Yorker
“NEW YORK HEALTH officials were warned in writing that a Brooklyn nursing home where 55 patients have died of coronavirus was overwhelmed — weeks before it began topping the state’s official list of resident COVID-19 deaths, damning emails show.” New York Post’s Bernadette Hogan, Carl Campanile and Bruce Golding
— “When Mina Clarke arrived at the Cobble Hill Health Center in late March, she had no idea she was entering a hotbed of New York’s deepening nursing home crisis. The 37-year-old Bed Stuy native, fresh off a major orthopedic surgery and unable to walk, didn’t think much of the ambulances parked outside the sprawling brick building. She thought of how peaceful the tree-lined Brooklyn neighborhood seemed this time of year. Three weeks later, Clarke was wheeled out of the facility, sick with COVID-19 and traumatized by an experience she describes as a ‘living nightmare.’” Gothamist’s Jake Offenhartz
— Families say they were never informed of the presence of the virus in nursing homes.
— New York’s policy requiring nursing homes to take in coronavirus-positive patients stands in contrast with policies in Connecticut and Massachusetts, which designated certain facilities for Covid-19 patients alone. But Cuomo is standing by the order.
— City Council Speaker Corey Johnson threatened to get Cuomo involved to force the closure of city streets to cars to make room for pedestrians over de Blasio’s objections. The NYPD and DOT testified on Friday that the street closure plan is not feasible.
— De Blasio called it a “dumb managerial mistake” to force city correction officers to work 24-hour shifts, and pledged to end the policy a day after unions sued to stop it.
— Five weeks after New York City moved to remote learning, 19,000 students who requested iPads for online classes still don’t have them.
GOV. ANDREW CUOMO has announced more than $10 billion in spending cuts as the coronavirus pandemic continues to ravage New York’s economy with no guaranteed end in sight. The budget department released a new financial plan Saturday alongside a consensus the global and national economies are in recession and the state’s outlook is “similarly bleak.” The $10.1 billion in cuts includes chopping $8.2 billion in local aid to places such as schools, health care programs and municipalities, authorized under this year’s fluid budget, which allows the administration to make reductions on an as-needed basis. State agency operations will be reduced by 10 percent, with hiring, salary increases and purchasing all put on hold. Altogether, the cuts represent a spending decrease of $7.3 billion and the largest annual percent decline in spending since the Great Depression, according to the budget department. POLITICO’s Anna Gronewold
— “An economic assessment compiled on behalf of the Cuomo administration estimates it will take three years for New York to fully recover from the financial fallout of the coronavirus pandemic … Over the course of the recovery, New York could lose about 14% of its gross domestic product — a more severe decline than the 2008-09 recession triggered by the stock market meltdown.” Newsday’s Yancey Roy
— State lawmakers are urging the Cuomo administration to halt collection of various fees and fines — including traffic infractions, parking violations and criminal court fines — that they say are hitting lower-income New Yorkers especially hard during the pandemic.
“TESTING FOR THE coronavirus will dramatically expand across New York under an executive order Gov. Cuomo announced Saturday — a critical element in the move toward eventually reopening the state. The order allows independent pharmacies to offer walk-in diagnostic tests, and will initially be made available to first responders, medical workers and ‘essential employees’ such as bus drivers, grocery store clerks and laundromat workers, who are ‘carrying the load’ of the crisis, the governor said at his daily press briefing in Albany. New York Post’s Sara Dorn and Laura Italiano
GOV. ANDREW CUOMO’s popularity has surged for a second straight month, according to a poll released by the Siena College Research Institute on Monday morning. A total of 77 percent of registered voters view him favorably and 21 percent view him unfavorably.
GET A LOAD OF THIS —> To get a sense of just how much Cuomo’s popularity has surged as he emerges as one of the country’s most visible leaders during the coronavirus crisis, consider that in a February Siena poll, only 44 percent of respondents viewed him favorably and 50 percent unfavorably. Now, Republicans view him favorably by a margin of 53-45. POLITICO’s Bill Mahoney
— Cuomo and other governors’ bobbleheads will raise money for medical equipment.
AL SMITH DID IT FIRST: The coronavirus is pitting states against the federal government on issues ranging from testing to stay-at-home orders to how best to restart the economy. After President Donald Trump claimed to have “total authority” over how and when states should ease their restrictions, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo made it clear not only that the president had no such power, but that he would fight any premature orders to open up the Empire State. He isn’t the first New York governor to thumb his nose at Washington. In fact, if Cuomo were looking for a precedent for such defiance, he need only glance at one of the several framed pictures of Al Smith that decorate his office. POLITICO’s Dr. Terry Golway
— State Sen. James Skoufis has tested positive for the virus.
#UpstateAmerica: Drivers lined up three-deep in DeWitt so they could get their hands on Pizza Fritte.
#UpstateAthletics: The Clifton Park native drafted to the Patriots has a right-wing extremist tattoo. A teenage “whoops,” he says.
— A pre-pandemic exodus from New York City has only accelerated since, but what’s New York without people?
— Home health care is becoming a new front in the fight against Covid-19 as some patients come back from hospitals and others strive to stay out of them.
— The city is delivering methadone door-to-door to homeless shelter residents and discharged hospital patients placed in so-called isolation hotels.
— Unruly people are causing disturbances in sparsely populated subways.
— Former Mayor Mike Bloomberg is spending tens of millions of dollars to bolster social services, feed first responders and help local officials trace the spread of the coronavirus in the city, in line with his longstanding interest in public health. It’s also an opportunity for him to rebuild his image after his failed presidential campaign.
— New York Sports Club and Lucille Roberts gyms have agreed to demands from New York Attorney General Tish James to reimburse their members for fees charged while they’ve been closed.
— The death toll from the novel coronavirus at state psychiatric facilities is rising.
— Thousands of taxi and for-hire vehicle drivers now working delivering free meals to New Yorkers will get a raise to $53 per delivery.
— Community health centers are struggling with furloughs and closures.
— Two Brooklyn county committee candidates say their names were removed from the June ballot in retaliation for pushing back against a local Democratic official asking them to canvas during the pandemic as one of them experienced coronavirus-like symptoms.
— An inmate filmed conditions at the Metropolitan Correctional Center widely criticized for jeopardizing inmates and staffers.
— Truck drivers are risking exposure to move essential goods.
— Some New Yorkers with roommates who left the city are anxious to see if they’ll ever come back.
— Job placement agencies are expecting a post-pandemic hiring surge.
— Startups are under fire for getting loans badly needed by mom-and-pop small businesses.
— The cherry blossoms are blooming in a closed Brooklyn Botanic Garden.
“FOR PRESIDENT TRUMP, who adores the pomp and precision of military ceremonies, this was the year he would finally get one of the special perks of being president — delivering the commencement address at West Point, the only service academy where he has not spoken. But the graduation was postponed because of the coronavirus, the cadets were sent home and officials at the school were not sure when it would be held or even whether it was a good idea to hold it. The Naval Academy, for its part, decided it was too risky to recall its nearly 1,000 graduating midshipmen to Annapolis, Md., for a commencement. Those graduates will have a virtual event. But the Air Force Academy, in contrast to the other schools, sent home its underclassmen, locked down its seniors on campus, moved up graduation, mandated social distancing — and went ahead with plans for Vice President Mike Pence to be its speaker. And so last Friday, the day before Mr. Pence was to speak at the Air Force ceremony in Colorado, Mr. Trump, never one to be upstaged, abruptly announced that he would, in fact, be speaking at West Point.” New York Times’ Eric Schmitt and Annie Karni
“CORONAVIRUS IS TEARING through local immigration detention centers, infecting dozens, but some detainees who are winning release on bond and hoping to isolate at home are having trouble getting out of jail. The reason: The only Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in New York City for their families to make bond payments is closed due to coronavirus. That means immigrants are stuck in ICE detention, often in county jails in New Jersey, while their families travel to Newark or Hartford, where ICE offices are only sporadically open, advocates say.” WNYC’s Matt Katz
SENATE MINORITY LEADER Chuck Schumer is planning to push for a provision in the next coronavirus package that would stop President Donald Trump from putting his name on any additional stimulus checks. The so-called No PR Act would prohibit the use of federal dollars toward any material that promotes Trump or Vice President Mike Pence’s names or signatures. POLITICO’s Marianne LeVine
NEW YORK CITY election workers are raising concerns about the safety of holding elections in two months, and are asking Gov. Andrew Cuomo to delay the contests currently scheduled for June 23 to sometime in August. “We sit, at maximum, about two feet from each other,” said Donna Ellaby, a New York City Board of Elections employee in Manhattan and the president of CWA Local 1183, which represents election workers. “We are in cramped overcrowded offices … There’s no way we can keep six feet apart. And then on Election Day, throughout the city, we employ 30,000 poll workers, and the nature of their tasks and the designs of our polling sites do not permit social distancing. And a very high percentage of our poll workers are over the age of 70.” POLITICO’s Bill Mahoney
— Gov. Cuomo has canceled a series of special elections, ordering that just the scheduled primaries for each take place.
“BERNIE SANDERS’s supporters are urging New York’s election officials not to cancel its June presidential primary, even though the Vermont senator has suspended his campaign for the Democratic Party’s nomination to face President Trump. Democratic commissioners of the New York State Board of Elections will meet Monday to consider a resolution that would scrap the primary. Mr. Sanders endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden on April 13, but Mr. Sanders said when he suspended his campaign that he hoped to keep amassing delegates to influence the Democratic Party’s platform and rules.” Wall Street Journal’s Jimmy Vielkind
FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: Former state Sen. Tom Duane is endorsing Democrat Evelyn Farkas, in her bid for Rep. Nita Lowey’s seat in NY-17.
— The L train rehab project is finished.
— A doorman now has a strong chance to win an Assembly seat on the Upper East Side after the incumbent Democrat was booted off the ballot.
— Republican Strategist David Catalfamo is campaigning to challenge Democratic incumbent Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner of Round Lake.
— Albany County Court Judge William A. Carter has been censured by the state Commission on Judicial Conduct.
— The state has upgraded its domestic violence hotline.
— Disgraced ex-New York Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, barely 18 months into a 51-month corruption sentence, is poised to trade his jail call for home confinement.
— Bronx Assembly candidate Chantel Jackson is standing by her previous anti-vaxx comments.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Bloomberg’s Mike Shepard … Dan Gerstein, president of Gotham Ghostwriters … Seth Mnookin … Michael Crittenden of Mercury Public Affairs is 41 … Alexsandra Sanford, CEO of GZERO Media … Andrew Brenneman … Eric Gioia … Chris Marte, running for City Council in District 1 … former Rep. Dan Frisa (R-N.Y.) is 65 …
… (was Sunday): First lady Melania Trump turned 5-0 … NYT’s Russell Goldman … The New Yorker’s Madison Heuston … Jessica Schneider, justice correspondent for CNN … Prosek Partners’ William Szczecinski turned 24 … WSJ’s Eliot Brown … Laura Kramarz … Lisa Hanna … Dick Fuld turned 74 …
… (was Saturday): Geoff Bennett, WH correspondent at NBC News … David Fenton, founder and chairman of Fenton Communications, turned 68 (h/t Jon Haber) … Teddy Goff, co-founder and partner at Precision Strategies (h/t Matthew McPartlin) … Mike Doran, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, turned 58 … Jeff Morgan … Patrick Mellody … Kenny Gold … Seth Amgott … NBA commissioner Adam Silver … Jaclyn Rothenberg … Julie Roginsky … Sandy A. Liebhard … Meredith Dragon
MEDIAWATCH — Per Talking Biz News: “Andrew Solender has joined Forbes as its new desk reporter covering politics, including the 2020 election.”
IN MEMORIAM: WNYC news host, reporter and producer Richard Hake died Friday. “Mr. Hake produced and created live radio feature segments for WNYC that focused on breaking news, culture and artistic sound portraits. His work was also featured on local and national NPR programs, including, ‘Morning Edition,’ which he hosted, ‘Weekend Edition,’ ‘All Things Considered’ and ‘On the Media.’” New York Times’ Derrick Bryson Taylor
“NEW YORK CITY Mayor Bill de Blasio called on the city’s Rent Guidelines Board to pass a rent freeze for the roughly 2 million tenants living in rent stabilized housing during his Friday press briefing. The mayor — who previously promised New Yorkers that he and the state would suspend this year’s rent guidelines process — said Friday that a report released by the RGB on Thursday that says landlords’ costs to operated rent stabilized housing [have increased] is ‘misleading.’” Patch’s Brendan Krisel
— De Blasio called for the state to extend a moratorium on evictions for 60 days past the end of the coronavirus emergency.
We’re going to spend some time with the three New York football teams and their drafts, and let’s start with second round pick Xavier McKinney of the Giants, a vital addition to the secondary who slots in as a potential starter at safety after a distinguished career at Alabama. You remember the team’s struggles with allowing big plays last season? Here comes McKinney to help with that.
McKinney also designs many of his own tattoos. “It’s just something that I like to do in my free time,” McKinney told reporters. “If I’m ever bored or ever kind of get to thinking, then I try to put the pencil on paper. For me, it’s pretty fun being able to do it and draw my tattoos. But as far as what I bring onto the field as far as creativity, I just try to do as much as I can to help my teammates and help put us in the best possible position to win.”
The day ahead: I want you to go re-watch the season finale between the Giants and Eagles and count how many times McKinney could have helped during this one. The over/under is 9.5 on those plays. (Bet the over.)
- Erin Durkin @erinmdurkin
- Anna Gronewold @annagronewold
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Cuomo previews gradual reopening strategy — Mood darkens as crisis drags on — State cuts $10B in spending
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