Hudson Valley Officials Pushing to Reopen in Mid-May

Hudson Valley officials are pushing to reopen in the very near future.

On Monday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced regions can start to reopen on May 15 if a number of guidelines are met.

Once a region meets the criteria to reopen businesses will reopen in four phases.

The goal of reopening the state by region in phases is to get people back to work and ease social distancing guidelines without causing a second wave of the virus to overwhelm the healthcare system.

Cuomo said a region that starts reopening will be shut down if the virus starts spreading again.

As of this writing, no region in New York State is allowed to reopen. The Mid-Hudson Valley meets four of the seven metrics.

Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro believes Dutchess County will start the Phase 1 reopening on May 17, according to the Dutchess Business Notification Network. Molinaro later said in a Zoom press conference with the Erie County Executive and NYSAC Executive Director Stephen the county is targeting a Mid-May reopening, likely around the week of May 19.

Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan said on Tuesday during a COVID-19 briefing while the coronavirus numbers are improving, the battle isn't over.

"It's just not quite the time to let our guard down. I'm encouraged by the data, but we just are not out of the woods yet and we have to very careful," Ryan said.

Ryan appeared on 97.7/97.3 The Wolf's morning show and said Ulster County meets six of the seven metrics issued by Cuomo. He stressed reopening will happened regionally, but believes a "soft reopening" could start in Mid-May.