Flashes of new normality appear in New York, even as the five boroughs remain technically subject to state-mandated home stay orders until at least May 28, and more likely until the first part of June. Mayor Bill de Blasio stressed on Tuesday.
“We still need at least a few more weeks. It will go in the first half of June, “de Blasio said in a TV interview on PIX11.
However, New Yorkers are getting relief from the city-wide dribbling and dull lockdown. Cars sat in the parking lot of a Queens restaurant on Saturday to watch the 1993 drama “The Sandlot” as part of a makeshift theater where neighbors saw each other for the first time in eight weeks. On Friday, neighboring state beaches and the Jersey Shore will open up to sun worshipers in time for Memorial Day weekend and give city dwellers a break from their often cramped apartments. And Yankees and Mets fans could fulfill their wish for an (almost) normal season, while Governor Andrew Cuomo encouraged state major league sports to play in empty stadiums, although that decision ultimately belongs to team owners and players.
“In the south of the state, we have several sports teams. When a team plays, even if no one is in the stands, it is broadcast and it gives people entertainment value and something to participate in, “Cuomo said in a briefing on Tuesday.
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Speaking personally, the governor said he had watched reruns of classic football games until the day he could watch live again.
On Tuesday, nearly 200,000 New York residents tested positive for COVID-19 and 16,000 died (this number rises to nearly 21,000 if “probable” deaths are included), according to the department of city health.
But as the fear that swept through the city just a few weeks ago is diminishing, the warm weather and a little entrepreneurial spirit give locked-in New Yorkers a chance to get out of the house.
Last week, a restaurant in Astoria, Queens, turned its parking lot into a makeshift theater around the same time that Cuomo announced that such establishments could reopen across the state. City residents, as far apart as the Bronx and, in one case, Westchester, visited the retro-style restaurant Bel Aire Diner at the corner of Broadway and 21st Street.
“I know people who have rented cars to be able to come,” said Kal Dellaportas, 35, whose parents opened the restaurant in 1965.
For “Throwback Thursday” this week, the dinner shows classic animated films on its inflatable screen at 8 pm. showing and the 1968 cult horror classic “Night of the Living Dead” at 11 pm, said Dellaportas. The restaurant uses popcorn sales to fund meals for local first responders.
Events have allowed the restaurant to recover some of the staff members who had to fire after the restaurant closed in mid-March and have given Dellaportas, who runs the restaurant operations, a sense of pride, he said. declared.
“It gives me goosebumps,” she said, thinking of the “thank you” messages she had received from movie night clients, including a family with a young girl who “hadn’t been out of the house for eight weeks”.
Dellaportas said it has heard of other businesses in the city seeking to follow the example of Bel Aire. In fact, Bronx entrepreneur Marco Shalma plans to turn a parking lot next to Yankee Stadium into a similar entry point, potentially with food vendors and even shows, he told MarketWatch the week. last.
And while New York’s beaches will remain closed to swimmers until further notice, two neighboring Nassau County state parks, Jones Beach and Robert Moses State Park, will open on Friday, providing another ray of sunshine for locked residents. of the five municipalities.
However, the beaches will be different in the middle of the pandemic. The governor asked the bathers to wear masks which, as noted by an epidemiologist, will create interesting tan lines, and the concessions will remain closed. The two parks, covering approximately 11 miles of waterfront, will also operate at 50% of their capacity, the governor ordered.
Nassau and Suffolk county lawmakers opposed the possible assault on city swimmers and rushed to enact laws this week to limit county-administered beaches to residents only. This includes Nickerson Beach in County Nassau, just a 15-minute drive from East Queens. However, the rules will not apply to state parks like Robert Moses or Jones Beach.
Cuomo offered another, albeit darker, reason for New Yorkers to breathe a sigh of relief on Tuesday. Nine New York hospitals will be part of a pilot program to open visits to family and friends for the first time since the crisis began. So far, sick patients with COVID-19 have suffered and, in most cases, have died alone, one of the most troubling aspects of this health crisis.
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Yet New York, the national epicenter of the virus, has weeks before it can start reopening, and when it does, it will be progressive enough to ensure that the disease does not recur, said on Tuesday mayor. .
The state and city have designed a total of 10 health parameters that measure the spread and containment of COVID-19, such as health care capacity, daily deaths, hospitalizations, and traceability, all of which are used by the city. he must comply before he can start reopening.
“There are statistics and facts that are interdependent and evolve very similarly,” de Blasio said at a press briefing on Tuesday. “It is clear to me when I look at the two that the first half of June is the time when all come together.”
Daily hospitalizations are less than 200 a day and the percentage of tests showing positive results for COVID-19 fell below 15%, even to a single figure (9%) for the first time on Tuesday. This means that the city has met two of the three health milestones that have been set as preconditions for reopening.
However, the large number of intensive care patients has proven difficult. On Tuesday, that number increased by 17 patients from the previous day to a total of 492 seriously ill people in the public hospital system. The city reference for reopening is 375.
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Meanwhile, the city is getting closer to state statistics. He reached another goal on Tuesday with new hospitalizations of less than two people per 100,000 new residents. The city has yet to meet three other state benchmarks, including the percentage of intensive care and hospital beds available, and an adequate army of contact followers.
The mayor said he hoped thousands of new contact trackers would be trained to reach this benchmark goal by early June, when construction, manufacturing, wholesale and retail, although limited to pickup, should reopen. in the state as part of the first phase.
“There has been tremendous unity with the state in the fact that we will be cautious and intelligent as to when to take the first reopening measures,” said de Blasio. “We will be watching each step carefully to make sure things are working and not going in the wrong direction.”
Other developments:
• Statewide, 105 people died from COVID-19 on Monday, one less than the day before, Cuomo said in his presentation.
• The June Democratic primary, which the state election office had suspended due to concerns about the coronavirus, is back. A federal judge ordered officials on Tuesday to hold the primary and include all qualified candidates on the ballot. The decision to cancel the primary election in April drew criticism from former Democratic candidates, including Bernie Sanders and Andrew Yang.
• Cuomo announced that the counties of Nassau and Suffolk can resume elective surgeries and ambulatory care, joining 50 other counties in the state that have expanded medical care.