Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he’ll begin discussions on Sunday with New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont on a tri-state plan for reopening businesses and schools as the number of hospitalizations from COVID-19 continues to slow in New York.
Cuomo, speaking to reporters in Albany Sunday, said he would ideally like to see the three states develop a coordinated strategy for reopening businesses and schools.
"We want to reopen as soon as possible ... The caveat is, we have to be smart in the way we reopen,” Cuomo said. "Nobody wants to pick between a public health strategy and an economic strategy."
Cuomo said he doesn’t have a date in mind for when businesses in New York could plan to reopen, and that a decision hasn’t been made on whether schools will remain closed for the remainder of the academic year.
Businesses may not reopen without a decision to send students back to class, Cuomo said. If businesses reopen, and schools remain closed, parents would have to figure out what to do with their children during the work day.
"I wouldn't assume anything because if you say schools aren't going to open, you're saying businesses aren't going to open,” Cuomo said.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said again on Sunday that schools in the five boroughs would remain closed for the remainder of the school year, despite statements from Cuomo this weekend questioning that decision.
“When it comes to a decision like this … our job is to protect the children of New York City, to protect the families of New York City, to protect our educators, and our job is to make sure that we beat back the coronavirus once and for all,” de Blasio said.
“It’s abundantly clear that to do these things we have to keep our schools closed for the remainder of the school year,” he continued.
Cuomo, later Sunday, said again that any plan to keep schools closed through the end of the academic year would be made on a regional basis, between de Blasio and leaders from suburban counties. Ideally, Connecticut and New Jersey would also be involved.
New York is also seeking to coordinate new testing efforts with New Jersey and Connecticut, Cuomo’s said in recent days.
He said he’s planning to issue an executive order Sunday to expand who, in New York, can test for COVID-19 antibodies. Those tests will be critical to reopening the economy, Cuomo’s said, because they can, in theory, test who’s developed an immunity to the disease.
As of Sunday morning, 18,707 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 in New York, with 5,198 of those patients in the intensive care unit. Both of those numbers were slightly up over what was reported Saturday.
Of patients currently in the intensive care unit, 4,449 were intubated as of Sunday morning, a net increase of 110 over yesterday. An additional 1,862 people were discharged overnight.
The number of people who’ve tested positive for the disease in New York reached 188,694 Sunday, according to state data.