Hudson Valley Fails To Meet Coronavirus Reopening Criteria

HUDSON VALLEY, NY — With five days to go until New York starts reopening its economy, the Hudson Valley region has still only met five of seven criteria. Other regions have — the Finger Lakes, Southern Tier and Mohawk Valley — and could be ready to start with phase one at the end of the week, which is when NY PAUSE expires.

At his briefing Monday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced regional "control rooms" where the metrics will continue to be tracked even after a region's economy begins to reopen.

"This virus doesn't respect county borders," he said. "There is no county-by-county plan. It is to be coordinated, and there's one set of rules."

In the Hudson Valley, all seven county executives plus the mayor of Yonkers, one of New York's largest cities, are members of the working group.

"The regional approach is one that makes sense and provides us with an opportunity to tailor any plan to fit the needs of our residents. We are doing everything humanly possible to meet the Governor's criteria and reopen Rockland as quickly and safely as possible," said Rockland County Executive Ed Day. "The Mid-Hudson Region, of which Rockland is a part, currently meets five of the seven criteria for reopening. We will be communicating daily with our regional partners and New York State as we strive to meet these metrics and will share that information with the public and local businesses so we can all be on the same page."

SEE: Rockland Hits 4 Essential Goals For Re-opening The Economy

The Hudson Valley region continues to miss two goals: a sustained two-week decline in deaths and a decline in new hospitalizations.

However, the region is a lot closer than it was last week to hitting the goal for decline in new hospitalizations. According to the state health department's new regional monitoring dashboard, the Hudson Valley had 2.79 new hospitalizations per 100,000 residents as of May 10, down from 4.79 per 100,000 last week when the dashboard was introduced.

The seven metrics:
1. 14-day decline in hospitalizations or under 15 new hospitalizations (three-day average)
2. Two-week decline in hospitalized deaths or under five new (three-day average)
3. New hospitalizations: under two per 100,000 residents (three-day rolling average)
4. Share of total beds available (threshold of 30 percent)
5. Share of ICU beds available (threshold of 30 percent)
6. 30 per 1,000 residents tested monthly (seven-day average of new tests per day)
7. 30 contact tracers per 100,000 residents or to meet current infection rate

Using the guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control is the way to re-open based on science and logic instead of emotion and political pressure, he said.

"People have to be smart," he said. "No one's going to protect your health but you."

Cuomo said regions that hit all seven goals can begin opening businesses for phase one, which includes construction; manufacturing and wholesale supply chain; retail for curbside pickup and drop-off or in-store pickup; and agriculture, forestry and fishing.

He also offered a glimpse at the timeline for other businesses. The second phase of reopening will include professional services, finance, insurance, retail, administrative support and real estate/rental leasing. The third phase includes restaurants/food services and hotels/accommodations, while the fourth phase includes arts/entertainment/recreation and education.

Some recreational activities will also be allowed, such as landscaping, gardening, drive-in movie theaters, tennis and other outdoor activities.

At his daily briefing, Cuomo said the state continued to see coronavirus infections and deaths trending downward.

Total hospitalizations fell below 7,300 with a net change of minus 36. Intubations saw a net change of minus 53, and the number of people who died of COVID-19 fell to 161. That includes 112 in hospitals and 49 in nursing homes.

The number of new hospitalizations, meanwhile, ticked down to 488, its lowest level since March 19.