(NEWSMAX/TJV NEWS)
Mayor Bill de Blasio said he plans to close non-essential businesses and both public and private schools in nine areas of New York City. Governor Andrew Cuomo said the state will take over direct enforcement in 20 hot spots around the state that are driving infections to their highest point since the lockdown.
The city will close public schools and nonessential businesses in parts of Brooklyn and Queens that have registered a week-long spike in coronavirus cases, as the city works to stop an increase in the virus after keeping cases down all summer.
NY Times reported: Most of the schools set to close are nonpublic schools, largely yeshivas in Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods that have been open for weeks. About 200 private schools will close, and 100 public schools, officials said.
De Blasio said during a news conference Sunday that all schools and nonessential business in neighborhoods within nine ZIP Codes would close beginning Wednesday.
The neighborhoods are Far Rockaway, Edgemere, Kew Gardens, Kew Gardens Hills and Pomonok in Queens, and Borough Park, Gravesend, Homecrest, Midwood, Bensonhurst, Mapleton, Flatlands, Midwood, Gerritsen Beach, Homecrest and Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn.
NY Times reported:
The city is also closely watching the 11 additional ZIP codes, which Mr. de Blasio described as a “real concern.”
They include parts of Williamsburg, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Manhattan Beach, Bergen Beach, Kensington and Crown Heights in Brooklyn. The Queens neighborhoods include Rego Park, Fresh Meadows, Hillcrest and Jamaica Estates
“We can stop this from spreading more deeply into New York City,” de Blasio said. “We can stop this from being a quote unquote second wave.”
Indoor and outdoor dining will also be closed in these areas, Dow Jones reported. Houses of worship will stay opened with restrictions, he said.
“You don’t do this lightly — you do this when the facts demand it,” De Blasio said in a press briefing on Sunday, adding that he has sounded a number of warnings recently. “We had warned people of more restrictive measures and now, we’re imposing them.”
“We’ve had 1,000 city personnel out in the key ZIP codes over the last few days in a very, very intensive enforcement effort,” Mr. de Blasio said. “We are finding some places where enforcement is needed, but really not that many in the scheme of things. But we will keep pounding away with that and we will certainly work with the state in every way possible.”
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