New York Shutdown Order Extended Until Mid-June, But Not Really

Gov. Andrew Cuomo extended his New York State on PAUSE order until the middle of June, but here's why that's not really the case.

On Thursday during his COVID-19 briefing, Cuomo announced the Central New York region joins the North Country, Mohawk Valley, Finger Lakes and Southern Tier regions that will all start Phase 1 of the reopening process on Friday.

The Mid-Hudson and Captial Region regions meet five of the seven metrics. New York City, Long Island and Western New York meet four metrics, as of this writing. Those regions must wait until they hit all of the metrics to start the phased reopening process.

Late Thursday, the governor signed an executive order that extends his shutdown mandate until June 13, unless conditions are met.

"All enforcement mechanisms by state or local governments shall continue to be in full force and effect until June 13, 2020 unless later extended or amended by a future Executive Order," the executive order states.

The extension was to make sure regions that haven't met the criteria to reopen don't start to reopen before meeting all of the metrics. Cuomo stated a region will be able to reopen once they hit all the benchmarks.

"The others can be UN-PAUSED the moment they hit their benchmarks," Cuomo tweeted while sharing his executive order. "New Yorkers be proud. Your actions bent the curve."

Cuomo has laid out seven metrics, based on CDC recommendations, regions must meet to reopen, including hospital capacity, daily deaths and new infections.

Under his plan, a region can start Phase 1 of the reopening process on May 15 if all seven metrics are hit. Phase 1 includes the reopening of construction, manufacturing, retail with curbside pickup, wholesale trade, agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting.