By: Marina Villeneuve & Jennifer Peltz
New York state will reinstate restrictions on businesses, churches and schools in and near areas where coronavirus cases are spiking, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday, saying the severity of shutdowns would vary by proximity to the hot spots.
Set to take effect no later than Friday, the new rules would be imposed in parts of Brooklyn and Queens in New York City, sections of Orange and Rockland counties in the Hudson Valley, and an area within Binghamton in the Southern Tier.
New York City and some other locales around the state where officials have been anxiously watching clusters of virus cases sprout up.
“This is about protecting people and saving lives,” said Cuomo, a Democrat.
In the hearts of the hot spots — color-coded as red zones — schools would close to in-person learning, only essential businesses could remain open, houses of worship would be limited to no more than 10 people, and restaurants could offer only take-out and delivery.
Those areas would be surrounded by orange-coded zones where schools also would be remote-only, and “high-risk” non-essential enterprises — such as gyms and personal-care businesses — would be closed. Religious institutions would be restricted to 25 people, and restaurants would be allowed limited outdoor dining.
A wider “yellow” caution zone would have schools and businesses open, and restrictions would be lighter than in other zones.
State health officials have drawn up the maps in consultation with public health experts and expect to release them Tuesday, said Cuomo spokesperson Rich Azzopardi.
Rockland County Executive Ed Day said he backed the governor’s plan and would do what he could to help implement it.
“The restrictions he announced are measured and clearly focused on the areas where this disease is spreading,” said Day, a Republican, urging residents to embrace their “civic duty to do what is right, not only for ourselves but for our entire community.”
In Broome County, where part of Binghamton’s west side will be subject to “yellow” zone rules capping mass gatherings at 25 people and restaurant seating at four people per table, County Executive Jason Garnar said the restrictions could benefit an area that went from about 60 active cases 10 days ago to 458 on Tuesday.
“A lot of what we’ve seen is spread through the restaurants and the bars,” said Garnar, a Democrat. He added: “Just as quick as we got into this, we can get out of this.”
New York City will be engaging with communities affected by the new rules, with implementation likely to begin Thursday, according to a tweet from Bill Neidhardt, a spokesman for Mayor Bill de Blasio.
A message seeking comment was left with officials in Orange County.
Cuomo ordered the closing of schools in nine Brooklyn and Queens ZIP codes on Monday. De Blasio had also proposed to close nonessential businesses in those areas, but Cuomo suggested that the boundaries needed to be drawn differently to be effective.
De Blasio on Tuesday pressed for a quick answer.
“We are at a crucial moment in our fight against the coronavirus,” the Democratic mayor said at a virtual news briefing. “We have to bring everything we can to bear. We have to be tough about it.”
He and Cuomo have often been at odds over the pandemic response and previous issues.
The affected areas in the city are largely Orthodox Jewish strongholds, and some community members have complained of being singled out for enforcement.
De Blasio said Sunday that about 100 public schools and 200 private schools would be shut down in the nine ZIP codes. The move came just days after the city’s public schools opened for in-person learning.
The nine ZIP codes where schools were closed have accounted for more than 25% of all new infections in the city over the past two weeks, though they represent just 7% of the population.
North of the city, the health commissioner in Orange County ordered school closures for at least two weeks in an Orthodox Jewish community in the Hudson Valley.
Dr. Irina Gelman ordered the closure of public and private schools serving the village of Kiryas Joel, also known as the Town of Palm Tree, where an average of nearly 28% of coronavirus cases have come back positive over the last three days. Statewide, the daily average has been around 1% in recent days.
Most Kiryas Joel children attend private schools. A spokesman for the village said schools there are already closed through Oct. 13 because of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.
The superintendent of the Kiryas Joel public school district, which serves students with special needs, said it has strictly adhered to health screening and mask rules.
“There is no substitute for in-person instruction and therapy, and we look forward to getting back as soon as it’s safe to do so,” said the superintendent, Joel Petlin.
On Tuesday evening, the Agudath Israel of America, (one of the largest organizations representing Torah Jewry on the United States) issued a statement via e-mail on their position on the lockdown measures imposed on predominantly Orthodox communities.
Their statement read as follows:
“Governor Cuomo’s surprise mass closure announcement today, and limit of 10 individuals per house of worship in “red zones,” is appalling to all people of religion and good faith. We have been down this path before, when religious practices were targeted for special treatment by the Governor’s Executive Order in May. A suit was filed challenging the Governor’s Order then (in which Agudath Israel filed an amicus brief), and the court found it unconstitutional. Repeating unconstitutional behavior does not make it lawful.
Moreover, it should be made clear that the Governor’s reference to a “good conversation” he had earlier today with a group of Orthodox Jewish leaders was largely a one-way monologue, and contained no mention of this new plan.
Agudath Israel intends to explore all appropriate measures to undo this deeply offensive action.
A final message to our community: We have considerable concerns that Governor Cuomo’s capricious actions will weaken compliance with good health practices. We cannot allow our – perhaps justifiable – anger at government to imperil our neighbors’ health.”
According to the Yeshiva World News web site, the Agudath Israel intends to explore all appropriate measures to undo “this deeply offensive action.”
YWN has learned that the “appropriate measure that Agudah mentions is the immediate filing of a court injunction.
On the national front, in yet another coronavirus development, President Trump on Tuesday called an abrupt end to negotiations with Democrats over additional COVID-19 relief, delaying action until after the election despite ominous warnings from his own Federal Reserve chairman about the deteriorating conditions in the economy.
Trump tweeted that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was “not negotiating in good faith” and said he’s asked Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to direct all his focus before the election into confirming his U.S. Supreme Court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett.
“I have instructed my representatives to stop negotiating until after the election when, immediately after I win, we will pass a major Stimulus Bill that focuses on hardworking Americans and Small Business,” Trump tweeted.
The unexpected turn could be a blow to Trump’s reelection prospects and comes as his administration and campaign are in turmoil. Trump is quarantining in the White House with a case of COVID, and the latest batch of opinion polls shows him significantly behind former Vice President Joe Biden with the election four weeks away.
The collapse means that Trump and down-ballot Republicans will face reelection without delivering aid to voters — such as a pre-election batch of $1,200 direct payments, or “Trump checks,” to most individuals — even as the national jobless rate is about 8% with millions facing the threat of eviction. One endangered Republican, Maine Sen. Susan Collins, said “waiting until after the election to reach an agreement on the next Covid-19 relief package is a huge mistake.”
Former Vice President Joe Biden slammed Trump’s move.
“Make no mistake: if you are out of work, if your business is closed, if your child’s school is shut down, if you are seeing layoffs in your community, Donald Trump decided today that none of that — none of it — matters to him,” Biden said in a statement released by his campaign.
Trump’s move came immediately after he spoke with the top GOP leaders in Congress, who had been warily watching talks between Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Pelosi. Many Senate Republicans had signaled they would not be willing to go along with any stimulus legislation that topped $1 trillion, and GOP aides had been privately dismissive of the prospects for a deal.
Just on Saturday, tweeting from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Trump said, “OUR GREAT USA WANTS & NEEDS STIMULUS. WORK TOGETHER AND GET IT DONE.” But any Pelosi-sponsored agreement of close to $2 trillion raised the potential of a GOP revolt if it came to a vote.
Last week, the White House said it was backing a $400 per week pandemic jobless benefit and dangled the possibility of a COVID-19 relief bill of $1.6 trillion. But that offer was rejected by Pelosi, who continued to take a hard line in the talks, including insisting on repeal of a $254 billion GOP business tax break passed in the March package as a way to finance additional relief.
Pelosi had spoken with Mnuchin earlier Tuesday. After Trump’s tweets spiking the negotiations, Pelosi said Trump was “unwilling to crush the virus” and “refuses to give real help to poor children, the unemployed, and America’s hard-working families.”
Trump broke off talks after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell warned earlier Tuesday that the economic recovery remains fragile seven months into coronavirus pandemic without further economic stimulus.
Stocks dropped suddenly on Wall Street after Trump ordered a stop to negotiations. The Dow Jones Industrial Average swung instantly from a gain of about 200 points to a loss of about 300 points.
Powell, in remarks before the National Association for Business Economics, made clear that too little support “would lead to a weak recovery, creating unnecessary hardship for households and businesses.” (AP)
